No Time for Diplomacy
by ganesh295
Summary: An ordinary kid is summoned by the godesses to stop the mirror from being broken, failing to do so, he must find a way to fix it. But no idea how.  I suck at summaries so please read and review. Might be rated M later for violence. LxM
1. Chapter 1

**No Time For Diplomacy**

**Nayru's POV**

It was over at last.

Ganondorf had finally been defeated again, and while we knew that he would come back, we also knew that it would be quite a while before he came back. For now at least, our work was done. As we gazed into the scrying pool showing Arbiter's Grounds, I happened to chance upon what Midna was about to do. She was standing on the magic staircase from which the Mirror would send her to the Twilight realm. I saw a single tear fall from her eye, which she pushed towards the Mirror. I would've ignored this except the tear didn't fall. But that meant…NO! That was not what we had in mind! She isn't supposed to do that! We have to do something, except…we can't directly interfere. Hmm…what to do…What to do… Aha! I know! "Sisters," I said urgently, "I think Midna is going to break the Mirror! We must send someone to stop it."

"But who?" Din said, confusion evident on her face.

Then Farore spoke up, "Maybe we could send on of the old man's people."

I smiled despite the urgency of the situation, "Good idea, Farore. Why didn't I think of that earlier. Heh, and I'm supposed to be the goddess of Wisdom." I said, opening up a portal as I did so.

**Michael POV**

This was not a normal day.

For some reason, while I was leaving High School, some guys wearing football jerseys started chasing me. _Oh crap_, I thought to myself, _What did I do to piss these guys off?_ Against all logic, I turned around and started walking towards them as though nothing unusual was happening. Clearly surprised, the football jersey guys slowed down to a walk as we closed the distance. "Hello", I said pleasantly, "Is there something you'd like to see me about?"

"Umm, well…why aren't you running away from us?" one of them said. Just as I had expected; all brawn and no brains whatsoever.

"Last time I checked, it was a free country." I replied smartly.

"Well, well, well. The fresh meat is actually brave enough to talk back to seniors." Another one said. Now they were standing close enough to be intimidating.

Oh, now it makes sense. This is just the standard Seniors Vs. Freshman style bullying. Well, good thing these three hadn't considered their prey more carefully.

Acting as though I'd seen someone behind us, I called out, "Hey, Mr. Bryant!" Mr. Bryant was the Vice-principle. As all three of them whirled around, I quickly sprinted away, crossed the low fence, and ran for the intersection. The police officer directing traffic there let me through immediately and I looked back to see that the seniors had finally noticed that their prey had escaped them. Seeing me on the other side of the intersection, one of them yelled "Hey!" as I headed towards the Civics center across the road. I decided that I would have a little more fun with them and went around to the back of the Civics center instead of inside it.

As I sprinted for the fountain in the Civics center's courtyard, I thought about where I would go if they found me here. The open air theater usually was a good place to avoid people, I could also go to the playground nearby. Suddenly, I heard an uproar close by and peeked out from behind the statues in the fountain. Sure enough, they had found my first hiding place, which would mandate me to disappear to my second one. The open air theater then.

As I ran to it, I heard shouts behind me of "Run while you still can, nimrod!" and "That's right! Flee before the terrifying seniors!". Ok, that last one really didn't make sense, but what the heck. As I jumped onto the actual stage I decided to hide in one of the conveniently placed side halls from which the actors would usually appear incognito. As I ran into the side hall, I looked over my shoulder at the seniors and didn't notice the soft light glowing in there until it was too late…

* * *

**Ganesh295: Sorry if this doesn't get you hooked and at least hang on for a bit of a while, a bit of a while being around the thirteenth or fourteenth chapters. Hopefully, I will be able to make this easier to sink into by that time.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: A Strange Predicament**_

**Michael POV**

Falling…falling…falling… It seemed like it would never end. Then I landed on the floor lightly, unexpected due to how far I'd fallen. _Where am I? _I thought to myself, _This can't be a dream, because I don't remember falling unconscious. I can't exactly be dead either, seeing as I didn't touch the electric panel behind the door in that side-hall. Hmmm…curious…The only logical conclusion I can draw from this is that this is real. But that should be impossible…shouldn't it?_ My deep contemplation was broken by soft footsteps, the kind that would be made by bare feet on a hard floor. I looked around and was shocked by what I saw. The floor was a soft blue, shaped like an enormous hexagon with a colored circular pedestal at each of the corners. When I noticed that each pedestal had a different symbol, it came to me.

"N-not possible." I breathed as I looked around. But though my mind screamed this was impossible, my eyes told me a different story entirely. By some divine jest, I was standing in the Chamber of Sages! Again, the sound of bare feet treading on hard, yet smooth ground. This time, however, I saw someone. She was tall, seemingly golden-skinned, and wore a long blue robe.

"Welcome," she said, "to the Chamber of Sages. I am Nayru. Hyrule's goddess of Wisdom."

"How?" I had to consciously remember to breathe due to the awe I felt as I looked at her. "How did I come to be here?"

"You have been summoned to right a dangerous wrong. And should you fail, which you likely will, you must find some way to make amends." She said, her tone turning grave. "You must prevent the Twilight Mirror from being shattered. To do so, you will be given some weapons of your choosing. Any weapon you choose shall have an equal chance of preventing this from happening."

As I considered the implications, my knowledge on mythical weapons, namely swords, flashed through my mind. Making my choice, I decided on four swords. As my mind centered on these, I saw four glints of metal in the endless abyss that was the sky. One of the glints was a soft blue with tinges of silver, one was black, accented by a red outline, one was a flaming orange with a whitish glow in the center, and the last glint was the brightest of all, harsh blue-white light filled a good part of the chamber. I recognized the swords immediately:

Valamanay, the Illusion blade, rumored to be able to create the illusion of multiple swords being swung at once, only to find that the swords were real as the flesh they would dig into.

Kaladbolg, the blade that, when swung, was able to decimate many a host of men with a single swing. Rumored to have destroyed the top halves of three hills from the energy wave released when it missed its intended target.

Laevateinn, the sword of fire that was once a twig plucked from the tree that grew near Death's gates that Loki enchanted with runes, rumored to be able to wield itself.

Claimh Solais, the Sword of Light, legends say that no man could resist this blade when it was drawn from its sheath.

Of course, I knew that these swords wouldn't have their actual powers as said by the myths, except maybe Valamanay and Laevateinn. As I was thinking about this, the four swords I had chosen all came to a rest with a few within a few feet of the floor and simply floated there. I was surprised to see that the blades all had scabbards. As I fastened them to my belt…wait a minute… I wasn't wearing a belt before. I looked at myself to see that my clothes had changed. Now I was wearing a gray tunic, gray leggings tucked into brown boots, and a flowing gray cape. As I marveled at my new attire, Nayru smiled a bit and said, "Well, well. Now you definitely look the part of going on the biggest adventure of your life."

Oh crap…that reminded me…I don't know how to wield a sword. Hmm…maybe I should've taken fencing lessons after all. Ah well. "If you're Nayru, then where are Din and Farore?" I inquired.

"Oh, you'll meet them later, seeing as we will be contacting you now and then." She said, smirking.

"How do I get out here?" I said, curious to why Din and Farore weren't here.

"Just think to yourself that you are ready to go, and you will." She replied

I did so and found that floor had disappeared again. Oh, come on! This is getting kind of boring. This time, however, there was a bright flash and I was standing in front of the Mirror, with the tear coming straight at me. Before I had time to draw any of my swords though, I heard a surprised gasp, a loud hissing noise, and the sound of an arrow being notched to a bow. Instincts took over and I jumped, the force of which was enhanced by the bomb's explosive force, and I went flying through the air thinking, _Heheh, a real life bomb jump. If only my friends on Xbox Live could see me now._ Oh snap, I'm heading straight for the Void stone. I really hope the…darn it… Right as I'm hoping that the mirror doesn't activate, the sucker's little cone of radiance washes over me and the last thing I see before I become a bunch of Twilight Particles is the Mirror shattering into millions of fragments.

**Link POV**

"What was that?" I ask, totally surprised at the speed at which the events of the past few minutes had occurred.

"Something tells me" Zelda said, "that we shall find out sooner or later. That was strange though, and I could've sworn my Triforce glowed right before that guy popped in."

"And why, for Farore's sake, did Midna just break the Mirror?" I said, my voice cracking as the full implications of what she had done sunk in.

"From what I know, during the time that I lived in Midna, she did it to prevent anything like this from happening again. She did it for you, Link." Zelda said.

"Oh, well that's just great. So this is how the Goddesses treat their Chosen?" I snapped, my voice turning bitter, " 'Hey, great job. You saved the world, as we know it. Your reward is to be lonely for the rest of your life.' WHY? ANSWER ME THIS!"

"Link, I don't think that they intended for this to happen. That guy who you nearly shot with a bomb arrow is more than enough proof." Zelda said, obviously trying to calm me down, "I also believe that the Twilight Mirror isn't the _only_ way into the Twilight Realm. From my experience, there is always more than one way to get into any realm. And I think there should be something about this in the Castle's library."

I started to feel the small flame of hope burning in me, when I realized something, "Hyrule Castle is destroyed, remember." I said somberly.

"Yes, but the Library was in the lower levels, so it should've survived the collapse of the Castle." She said, hope dawning on her face.

"Maybe…" I said, thinking about many things. Where had that mysterious swordsman come from? Was there another way into the Twilight Realm? And, most importantly, why, if she had any feelings for me, did Midna break the Mirror?

**Michael POV**

_Oh sweet lord,_ I thought as went flying through the air into the Twilight Realm. To see this place in the game was one thing, but to see it in the metaphorical flesh! Even though I was flying through the air I couldn't help but marvel at the serene beauty of this place. It was like the time of day had been permanently set to evening, which happened to be my favorite time of day. The clouds were black, but the golden, evening light highlighted them in a way that made the black seem calm, unlike the roiling storm that was normally signified by black clouds.

Then reality caught up to me in the form of the ground, ow. As I quickly rolled to my feet from my landing, I drew Claimh Solais and, seeing nothing in front of me, whirled around to see an enormous mob of Twili, who were obviously awaiting their princess's return. "Why? Why did you break the Twilight Mirror?" I called out, seeing Midna at the very back of the mob where the Twilight Mirror would normally deposit one.

"How do you know…" she started, but was cut off by a loud cry of "GET HIM!" from the mob, which proceeded to start chasing me.

"Oh…shit. This is really not my day." I said mournfully. First, there are seniors after my hide for no apparent reason. Next, I get snatched away to Hyrule. And now I have an ANGRY MOB after my ass!

I start running, but to no avail; just when it seems like they are about to catch me, I hear an unfamiliar voice shout, "STOP! I want him arrested and tried before he dies!"

Midna's voice: "Councilor Andovar, what do you think you're doing!"

"Princess Midna, you know the law. Any Light Dwellers are to be immediately sentenced to death. Unless, of course you have a different idea?" said the one whom I now knew to be Councilor Andovar.

"Perhaps, if you would let me interrogate the Light Dweller, then I would be able to decide." Midna said, emotion gone from her voice.

"Hmmm…perhaps…But I must have a sentence by the end of this day! That sentence is to be carried out tomorrow. For now, send him to the dungeons!" Councilor Andovar said.

The next thing I remember is the barred door slamming shut with a dull _chunk! _As I looked around my new temporary home, I found myself wondering if they had specifically chosen the cell that already had a dead guy in it! I immediately backed away from it, startled. As I looked closely at the rotting corpse, I noticed a little rucksack with what looked like a journal in it. I looked at the title and felt that my chance of surviving this had just risen dramatically. The journal was titled, _Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword. Everything you need from basic tips to advance techniques_. _Oh hell yes, _I thought to myself as I opened the journal to find that it looked pretty new. _Strange, _I thought, _but no matter._ As I started to look through it, I heard a by-now familiar voice say, "Enjoy the gift?"

I turned around to see Midna standing at the cell door. "You? What do you want?" I said, instantly suspicious. Eyeing the space to her sides though, I didn't see any guards nearby.

"I didn't think I would need any for 'interrogation'." She said, adding sarcastic emphasis to the word "interrogation". "Just tell me," She continued, "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"Umm..well…truth be told…I'm not entirely sure how I got here myself. One minute I'm running away from my tormentors, the next minute I'm being sent here by the Goddesses, and the next minute I actually am here, being imprisoned and sentenced to death for simply being a Light Dweller. And I presume that you, like your people, carry that same prejudice." My voice turning cynical towards the end.

"Don't talk about my people that way." Midna snapped, "They carry that prejudice with a good reason. You are also wrong in thinking that I have that same prejudice." Her voice softened slightly, "The past few months have shown me something quite different to what we were taught as children in regards to Light Dwellers, to be perfectly honest, I was under the impression that neither Link nor Zelda would've cared less about what happened to the Twilight Realm. Then, Zant mortally wounded me and cursed Link; I hadn't expected him to try so hard to get there so quickly. Neither had I expected Zelda, who I saw as a pampered princess with no knowledge of duty to her people, to quite literally give her soul to keep me alive. My opinion of your kind has changed greatly since that time. So, I'm helping you and give you a fighting chance of survival. But, in return, you have to help me with something very important. If you are able to prove yourself in a fight for your life in an arena, then you will win their respect and they will come to accept you…eventually. The Twili have respected strength ever since the Usurper King's iron-fisted and insane rule. Do you know why? Nobody was strong enough, or daring enough, to stand up to Zant, until Link of course."

"I have one question. How hard will they be trying to kill me in the arena?" I inquired nervously.

"Not too hard. See, they think that you're unarmed. So they're just going to stick some recent graduate from the warfare school against you. After all, he's going to be armed and you aren't. At least that's what they think. Please tell me you have a weapon." She said, actually injecting a little bit of plea into her voice.

"How's this?" I said, spreading my cape a little bit and showing her the four scabbards attached to my belt, then quickly concealing them again.

"Hmm," she said, almost sounding disappointed, "Not what I'd take with me in an arena fight, but hey, your choice."

_Okay then, she clearly doesn't know the powers of these swords_, I thought to myself, _Time for a little…demonstration._ "Well, that may or may not depend on whether the legendary powers of these blades are real. Let me see here…" I said, surprised at how light my tone was considering the circumstances, "Laevateinn, Sword of fire, legends say that it can wield itself. Let's find out." I drew Laevateinn as a said so. As soon as the blade left its sheath, it immediately started glowing a soft red at the center. I held the blade up reverently as the glow spread throughout the blade, making the whole sword glow orange. Then the glow started brightening and harshening. When it seemed that the glow couldn't become any brighter, there was a small explosion and the whole blade burst into flames. _Oh hell yes._ I thought, as I stared at it wonderingly. In a slightly awed tone, Midna asked, "Why isn't that sword burning your hand?" there was a slight pause, and she seemed to remember something, "Did you say that thing can wield itself?"

"Let's see." I said. I knew enough about weapons like these to know the blade was probably semi-sentient or even fully sentient. I projected my thought-command for the blade to wield itself as hard as possible and waited…and waited. As I was about to sheath the sword, I saw Laevateinn quiver slightly in my hand, as though getting used to listening to my thoughts, then rise up into the air, execute a perfect salute (Hold the blade in front of your face, then snap it down to the side), then rest itself in a two-handed stance. "Holy…" I breathed. Then it started its own _regimentation_. Wide swings that feinted into short cuts, great upward sweeps that turned into fast downward slashes in the opposite direction (If the sword swung up and to the right, then it would turn around and swing down and to the left. Sort of like half of a figure-eight). I watched it go through all those and more, flame trailing behind it all the while. When it finished its warm-up, it settled itself gently into my hand and I heard a rough voice say, "Well, that felt good." I looked at it incredulously and it added, "Hey, if you hadn't used a sword for a good 400 years or so then you wouldn't being in the best of spirits either." _Oh_, I thought to myself, _that would explain a lot._ _These legendary weapons seem to have the weird clichéd habit of being sentient._

"Ok, that was weird." Midna said. If I hadn't known better I could've sworn her voice was quavering. "I think you've got a chance of surviving. I should warn you, though, these may be just graduates that you'll be facing, but they'll always have a few unexpected tricks; and just because you rid your opponent of their weapon doesn't mean they don't have more. See you later! Oh, and good luck." She said, walking away. As I settled down to reading the book Midna gave me, I started to see a few usable attack patterns. Picking up Laevateinn, I started practicing, and didn't stop until I was completely exhausted. I sheathed Laevateinn, took off my cape, rolled it up into a makeshift pillow and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Royal Pains, Politics, and Bodyguards**_

**Michael POV**

I woke up with a start when a loud _Clang! _roused me from my sleep. I sat up, yawned, and jumped back to see a teal-blue figure with black robes and a spear standing at the entrance of my cell.

"Rise and shine, Light Dweller." He spat out.

"And good morning to you too." I replied cheerily, my good mood seemed to catch him off guard and his look became quite perturbed.

"Well, you sound awfully happy for someone who is about to be executed. At least you have the honor of the Princess being witness to your death." The guard replied sourly.

"Live every moment like it's your last, that what I always say." I said, unrolling my cape and putting it back on. As I fastened the chain that held it in place, I looked down to see that all four of my scabbards were in clear view. Strangely enough, though, the guard didn't seem surprised at all.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? It seems that the Princess has finally followed the common tradition to make these sort of things more _interesting_." The way he emphasized the word. Seeing my perplexed look, he said "Ah, I see that you don't know what traditions I'm talking about. Well, see here. Back in the old days, when someone was sentenced to fight in an arena, the Twili Royalty would sometimes gift the condemned with a weapon to make things more entertaining."

"I see," I said, smiling on the inside about my luck, which usually screwed me over. Finishing with putting the cape on, I started to follow the guard to a long upwards slope, at the end of which was a door through which light was pouring through. _Light at the end of the tunnel_, I thought to myself. For some strange reason though, that door reminded me an awful lot of the Roman Coliseum, essentially, this was no different from that arena of death. As I reached the end of the tunnel, the door swung open, incapacitating me with sudden brightness and deafening cheers.

**Midna POV**

As I sat down at the throne-like seat in the promontory overlooking the arena and watched Michael walk out of the gate and into the grounds, I found myself wondering for the first time what it was like to walk through those gates. Into blinding light and incessant cheers of the now-bloodthirsty Twili. Then my thoughts went to what would happen if Michael actually won. What would happen? Would they let him live?

"Are you well, your Highness?" Councilor Andovar said, his voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Are you worried that the Light Dweller will survive? I should warn you, Princess, if he should succeed in his match; there will be…consequences." He said, his voice becoming darker toward the end.

My temper flared as I snapped, "Are you threatening me, Councilor?"

"O-of course not. Nothing could be further from the truth. I simply meant the unrest that would be caused by the presence of a Light Dweller amongst us." He said quickly and not at all sincerely.

Slightly rattled, though unwilling to betray my emotions, I turned back to the crowd as the one to fight Michael arrived.

**Michael POV**

Ok, you know what. To heck with comparing this thing to the Coliseum, this is a shameless rip-off of it! There was even a throne, where the highest-ranking dignitary, normally a monarch, would sit!

My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the cheering somehow growing even louder as I heard another gate open and slam shut. As I watched, a tall, well-muscled Twili who was built like a linebacker and wearing strange looking armor came out of the opposing gate. He was wearing an ornately crafted helmet that looked like a cross between the helm of a Spartan and Zant's helmet. Suddenly, the arena was silenced.

"Hear ye! Hear ye!" a voice bellowed, "We come today to witness a battle told of long ago in our lore. In the arena we have a man representing one of the great Founder-Kings!" the possessor of the voice said, gesturing towards my opponent as cheers started back up and then faded away as the man raised his hand for quiet. "Facing him, we have the one enemy of our kind…the Light Dweller!" he said, the arena filling with 'Boo's'.

"However, we Twili have grown to appreciate strength. Should the Light Dweller, by some fluke, be spared from a glorious death, then he will continue to be a gladiator for us!" The man shouted. The 'Boos' turned to cheers almost immediately

_Oh shit._ I thought to myself, _how the hell am I going to help find a way into Hyrule now? Especially if I end up having to be a gladiator._

I had no time to dwell on these thoughts however, as my challenger approached me. Lifting up the face-guard of his helm to show eyes blazing with rage, he shouted, "Before you die, I want you to know the name of the warrior who killed you. I…am…the Manticore!"

"The manticore?" I said, my voice brimming with amusement.

"Yes! Since I have laid waste to village after village during my service in the Twili guard, I have been known as 'The Manticore'."

"Do you know what a Manticore is?" I asked.

"No." he said. "Is this related to your slaughter?"

"No, but it is important nevertheless. A manticore is a monster; face of a man, body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Do you want to know what we do with Manticores?" I said wryly.

"What?" my opponent said, fury giving way to confusion and impatience.

"Well. First we cut the tail and the head off." I drawled, pulling Laevateinn slowly from its sheath. The blade looked normal, but I knew that it awaited my command to blaze to life. "Then we stick it through with the blade and cook it. Do you know what we cook it with?"

"What?" he replied with a tone of incomprehension.

_Again with sending dumb muscle at me,_ I though bemusedly,_ If you're going to try and kill me, at least use someone I can have a decent conversation with. Jebus, he doesn't even know what people cook with. Then again,_ I looked around at the crowd; almost literally on the edge of their seats, _prolonging this might not be such a good idea._

"Well, we-" I started to say.

"Haha! What kind of pitiful excuse for a sword is that?" he roared as he lifted a strangely curved long sword in one hand and an enormous battle-axe in the other. He charged at me, holding the blade out at waist level, as though I would simply stand there. I waited for the right moment, then, as he was a foot away from me, I dived forward and rolled, nearly impaling myself on my own sword, past him, the blade whistling over my head. I came out of my roll to see him cast a slightly surprised look behind him and quickly turn around. I was now slightly ticked off at him. First, he dissed my sword. Second, I really don't have time for this. Third, for all his bluster and bravado and bragging, that was the most pathetic attempt at attacking with a sword I have ever seen! Deciding to take vengeance by unnerving him even more, I shouted, "The kind of pitiful excuse for a sword that will cook your ass well-done!" as Laevateinn blazed to life in all its flaming glory the crowd gasps and becomes totally silent.

"Finally, I can hear myself think." I remarked. Wasting no time, I immediately charged him and started a series of blazing slashes and chops, taking advantage of the fact that I was much lighter, and therefore quicker, than him. I used the momentum inherent with swinging a two-handed sword to spin full circle into another slash. My opponent, all but running from this steady barrage of attacks, had somehow gotten his helm on before I reached him and was working furiously to either block or dodge my blade. Of course, I was still injuring him indirectly due to the intense heat from my sword and the waves of flame flying off the blade at each swing. While I knew that I was wearing him down, I was tiring just as fast as he was. If I didn't finish this quickly, I was a dead man walking.

And then I slipped up.

My opponent tried to block too early and I had time to change the direction of my slice, but then he attempted to hook my weapon with the curve of his battleaxe's blades. The hooking maneuver prevailed and my sword went flying out of hands. I immediately rolled back to avoid the follow-up swing but was put farther away from Laevateinn in the process. My exhaustion caught up to me and I was unable to stand. The one who called himself Manticore walked slowly up to me both weapons hanging lazily at his sides.

"And so it ends." He said theatrically, raising his sword up slowly, then down hard towards my head. As the sword came down, I saw my recent memories flash by and knew that what they said about your life flashing past your eyes before die was true.

I saw myself outrunning the seniors, falling into the abyss, being given my task, going over each weapons capabilities. When I remembered Valmanway's abilities, realization hit me. _Illusion blade_, I thought to myself. Hope flared up in me and brought new strength into my body. Rolling out of the way at the last moment, I somehow rolled onto my feet to the cheers of the crowd.

"You have underestimated me, Manticore. You made the mistake that few have survived the result of." I said, surprised at the dark tone of my voice and that I was still following my plan to assault him psychologically as well as physically. "The greatest men and minds of all worlds have fallen because they grew too proud, too confident. They made mistakes, and so they fell. Underestimating someone can catastrophically manifest itself in many ways."

"So what if I've 'underestimated' you. You still don't have a weapon." He said, still not understanding his own mistake.

"And this, my opponent, is how you have underestimated me. You should never assume that your opponent has only one weapon." I said calmly, drawing Valmanway and saluting with the blade. This prompted the crowd to gasp once more, when three illusion versions of the blade appeared before me like a wall. I dispelled the illusions and said, "Oh, and one more thing. The sword you knocked out of my hands; doing that has just compounded your problems. That blade can wield itself." I finished.

Realization dawned on my opponent's face and he turned around as Laevateinn rose up from where it was laying in the dirt and flew at him. As I charged at him anew, I saw the fear and confusion on his face; my assault on his psyche had prevailed. Given a few more words in the right place, the 'Manticore' would be nothing more than a nervous wreck. As I actually reached him, the Valmanway's greater speed as a one-handed weapon became apparent as I wove my attacks in between Laevateinn's. My opponent wasn't even trying to block my attacks now; he was just running away from me. I mentally ordered Laevateinn to stop burning and knock him unconscious, when he turned around and was able to knock Laevateinn out of the way. He then ran at me, sword elevated at waist height just like the beginning of the fight. This time, however, I simply swung the flat of Valmanway towards him as hard as possible, and an Illusion blade appeared and made solid contact with the side of his head and he was knocked out before he hit the ground in a shower of sand. As I stood over my opponent, I raised my blade, at which the crowd went silent; thought about it, then sheathed it. The crowd came back to life and I heard one cheer, then another, and another, and another still, then the cheering gathered momentum and spread throughout the whole arena. I knew in that moment that I had made progress towards being accepted by the Twili (Thank you, _Gladiator_.). As I raised my other hand and Laevateinn flew straight into it. The blade was halfway into its sheath when I noticed a glint of metal in the stands. As I looked on, I saw the vague shape of an arrow flying straight towards Midna. An iron wall fell around my heart as I realized that neither she nor anyone else hadn't noticed the arrow and wouldn't until it was far too late. As I looked around frantically for some way to warn her with the crowd's deafening shouting, I acted purely on instinct, ignited Laevateinn, and brandished it towards the general direction of the arrow. I felt a deathly blanket fall over the crowd as a large flare; the burning afterimage of an arrow, and the resulting silence signified that nobody else had noticed the arrow flying towards the princess. There was a sudden commotion behind me as the gates opened and a few dozen Twili in armor filed out and formed a box around my still unconscious opponent and me. I turned around to see a Twili wearing a long robe and a helmet that was identical to Zant's.

"And you are?" I said, instantly distrusting of this figure.

"I am Councilor Andovar, and you should be showing some more respect to me." He said bitterly. I could instantly tell this was a man who was seldom happy and not unacquainted to the art of dissembling. "I would like to let you know that, because you have just saved the life of the princess, you need not be a gladiator. No, you will be tasked with her safety." He said.

_Wait…what! This is going way too fast. I am as much a bodyguard as I am a botanist. And, thanks to that stupid poison ivy, I hate botany!_

"Wait, no one else saw that arrow?" I said, unbelieving.

"No one that could've done anything about it." He replied coolly. I suddenly had the weird feeling that assassination attempts were not outside the norm around here.

"Who's idea was this, anyway?" I asked, as if I couldn't already guess whom.

"Princess Midna decided on this herself. Understandable, seeing as you have no choice but to accept and there hasn't been anyone of adequate…skill until you." he said, no emotion present in his voice.

_Adequate skill! HA! More of a case of blind luck!_ I thought to myself. _Wait…no choice but to accept?_

"Councilor Andovar, what do you mean by 'I have no choice'?" I inquired.

"Well, no other choice unless you want to be a gladiator." He said, unable to keep a small smirk off his face.

_Ok, being a bodyguard is far more preferable to being a gladiator,_ I think about the offer for a few minutes. "Sure." I say.

"Ok then, follow me, and go nowhere else!" Councilor Andovar barked.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: The New Dawn**_

**Midna POV**

As I paced impatiently in the meeting chamber, I thought over what had just happened, that had been no graduate from the swordplay academy; that was a hardened veteran. And even he had run from Michael. But, then again, not even Zant would've hung around under the assault of a barrage like that. The strange part, though, was that the warrior hadn't even used any of the many spells available to him. As I thought about it some more, however, things began to make a tiny bit of sense. Before fighting, Michael's strange theatrics could only add up to one thing: mental breakdown. That was how he'd worn down one of the Twili Royal Guard. He'd not just attacked him physically; physically, he'd only gotten one attack through, the blow to the side of the warrior's head with that strange blue short sword's afterimages. Strange, how that sword could generate afterimages of itself that were quite solid. Stranger still, how he could hold that burning blade he called "Laevateinn" without burning his own hands. And how come the warrior was so hard pressed to block Michael's attacks? It's not like reading a book on how to use a sword can make one a master overnight, but that was probably Laevateinn just wielding itself. What didn't make sense were his razor-sharp reflexes. He was new to using a weapon, so why did he _move_ like one who has years of practice? I'll probably have to ask him about that one later.

Right as I was thinking about asking him later, the runes on the door of the meeting chamber glowed and I knew that he was here. As he came in, I found myself wondering about the goddess's penchant for choosing the ones with either a handsome or somewhat forbidding appearance.

He was around my height, with a sharply defined face that the soft light from the closing door only seemed to highlight. His hair was the only thing about him that wasn't gray; instead, it was a midnight black and was looked like an unusually jagged bowl cut. His eyes were somewhat troubling though, they were completely gray, but, unless I was seeing things, there were also occasional flashes of red, white, green, and midnight black in his eyes. His build was similar to Link's, except he was somewhat thinner than the farm-hand-turned-hero had been. He was wearing also a long gray cape with a silvery chain at the neck. To my slight amusement, he looked completely awestruck since the time that he entered the room; almost as much as Link had been when he first saw my true form. But, unlike Link, he was able to quickly put himself under control; the awestruck look lasting only an instant. I felt a slight pang of regret as merely thinking about Link again brought back the memory of his horrified face anew.

Deciding to break the tense silence, I said, "I don't believe that introductions are necessary, Michael?"

He started ever so slightly and said, "No, Princess Midna, I do not think so."

"And is there any chance of you being able to stop calling me that?" I said, irritated.

"…"

"Oh, well. It was worth a try." Exasperated, I walked over to one of the stone chairs and sat down. Seeing that he was still standing, I said, "Will you please skip the formalities and sit down? We might be here for a while." When he sat down, I continued, "So, you don't have anything to say about being just offered the job of being my bodyguard?"

"Why should I have anything to say about it?" he asked, no inflections of emotion present in his voice.

My eyebrows went up slightly in surprise, "You have just nearly been shot, thrown into an alternate dimension, imprisoned, forced to fight in an arena, stopped an attempt on my life, and made my bodyguard in a few minutes after that. What do you mean you don't have anything to say about it?"

A grin appeared on his face as he thought about it for a moment, "Well, we all have one of those days at some time or another. So why be surprised when it actually comes around to happening?"

The way he said that immediately brought me back to when I'd first met Link. That day, the Twilight palace had been invaded, I'd been cursed and turned into an imp, then thrown out of my own realm, found Link, got him out of the prison, seen Zelda, retrieved a sword and shield, fought one of my mutated subjects, and nearly given Link a new haircut with the sword he stole; and I was just getting warmed up. Another painful reminder of his horrified face as I shattered the Mirror flashed through my mind. _Damn it, Midna, focus. A wonderful sight it would be if you even started to break down if front of someone who you probably shouldn't trust._ I thought to myself bitterly. _But then again,_ I went over the matter of trust for a moment and decided to just ask him, but he interjected.

"Now that I think about it," he said slowly, "I do have one question. Why so sudden?"

I understood perfectly what he meant and replied fittingly, "Well, if I hadn't intervened, you'd be a gladiator right now. And you said that you were brought here to either fix the Mirror or find a substitute. I want to find a way into the Light Realm, for reasons that I may or may not tell you, and you want to stay alive. You help me; I help you, simple as that. One thing though, why the hell are your eyes not only gray, but also flashing green, red, white, and black."

"Oh?" he said, apparently surprised. He thought about it for a moment, then held up one of his swords, Laevateinn. As shock covered my face, he quickly said, "I have a theory." He ignited the blade and his eyes became completely red. But it wasn't just plain red, it flickered like the fire on his blade, it almost looked as though there was an actual fire burning there.

"Do my eyes look like they're burning?" he said, as though this was something of great curiosity to him.

"Um…well, yes." I said, slightly perturbed. _But then again, who wouldn't be at this sight._

"Ok then, that explains it." He said calmly.

"Do you have any other questions?" I asked, eager to end this unnecessary interview.

"How often is my food going to be poisoned?" he said, the ghost of a smile creeping onto his face.

"Don't count on it." I said, feeling myself smile a little too.

"With your leave, may I go to my quarters?" he said.

"You don't even know where they are." I countered. "Come," I said, "Let me show to your 'quarters'. Good lord, this isn't the army!"

Some time later, due in part to the fact that my new guard couldn't stop staring at the weapons that were hung on the wall, we arrived at the door with a blank space on it.

"Place whatever you want to be on that door to on it." I said, seeing his perplexed expression. A somewhat devious smile lit up his face as he drew a sword that I hadn't seen before. It looked to be made entirely of a bluish crystal and had the traces of an engraved cross in it. The blade itself seemed to be shaped around the cross, widen out at the end to come to a point a bit in front of the top arm of the cross.

"Nice sword, but won't it break when you hit something with it?" I said, impressed by the crystal blade. That just made his grin become even wider. He then spoke a single word,

_"Ignis"_ he said.

The blade came alive with a blinding bluish light, making me step back a little from the sheer magnitude of the shining brilliance. A loud fizzing and sputtering interrupted me from the shining blade.

"Oh, shit." I near-whispered. Michael's blade had just shorted out all of the Door Runes in the hallway.

"Now look what you did! Who's going to fix those Opening Runes now?" I shouted, exasperated.

Michael was just standing there, mouth dropped open into an almost comically perfect O. "Maybe if I used this…" I head him say, when he sheathed his Light Blade, and drew a sword that gave off a strange feeling that almost reminded me of how I'd felt in the presence of Zant. It was midnight black with a blood-red glow surrounding it. Though it looked like an ordinary broadsword, I could tell that its power was as mysterious as Michael's only other one-handed weapon, the short bluish-silver blade with the afterimages of itself. He raised the black blade and flicked his wrist; I heard the hum of a Door Runes being placed and looked around to see that Michael had somehow replaced all the Door Runes.

"How-" I started to say, when he interrupted me.

"Concerning magic, you imagination is the limit of your ability." He said primly. I didn't understand what he said, but he quickly explained, "What I mean to say is, when it comes to the limit of the versatility of your magic, the limits of your imagination is the limit of your power."

"Oh. Ok then. But how did you fix the Door Runes? You don't even know the spell."

"Simple, I just imagined that the damage done to them by Claimh Solais's light hadn't been done." He said.

"Claimh Solais?" I said, perplexed.

"Yes, Claimh Solais is that sword that just now shone brighter than a Sol. Heck, in a dialect from my world, 'Claimh Solais' literally translates to 'Blade of Light' The other sword you saw is Kaladbolg, sword of darkness."

"Darkness?" I said, slightly worried.

"Don't worry, the thing hasn't tried to take over me yet." He said in a carefree manner.

_How can he be so casual about a weapon of darkness? About a weapon from the same kind of power that had nearly destroyed two worlds? _I thought about it for a moment, then decided to let it go for now. There was still the question of his reflexes.

"One last thing I'd like to ask you." I said tentatively.

"Sure."

"Your reflexes, you aren't one with a tremendous deal of experience in combat, yet you move like one."

"Umm, it's a long story," he said, looking slightly abashed.

"I have patience." I replied lightly.

"Well…I used to have quite a bit of expertise in hand-to-hand combat." He trailed off, making the 'But' as obvious as if he'd said it.

"But?" I said, impatient by now.

"I, well, I haven't practiced in about six years." He said, hanging his head as though this was a quite blasphemous action. I couldn't keep myself from smirking and soon it burst into a full-fledged grin. As I worked furiously to stifle my laughter at my guard's expense, his face was going quite red as though someone had just slapped him.

"So your telling me that you used to be a hand-to-hand combat specialist, but you haven't practiced in six years and have become rustier than a sword thrown into Lake Hylia."

"Umm, yes, that just about sums it up." he said, still quite embarrassed.

"Well, your duties start tomorrow." I said, hoping to end the awkward moment. He was about to go into his room when he turned to me and said, "Just out of curiosity, how long has the post been vacant?"

"Around a year before Zant invaded this Realm." I said.

"What happened to him?" Michael said, his expression marred by curiosity.

"He was supposed to be guarding me at my coronation but no, the idiot got drunk last night and got knocked out midway through the ceremony and I almost got shot that day." I said, acid dripping in my voice. "Do me a favor and stay away from the bars."

"Ok." He said in a small voice.

"Oh, and what are you putting on your Door Rune." I asked before he could reach the door.

"Oh yeah." He said, pulling out his sword of fire and igniting it, then pressing it to the door. The image left behind was of the flaming sword in the middle of the door, surrounded by the Twilian insignia.

He then entered his new room and seemed to stop dead before the door closed behind him. As I walked away, I could've sworn I heard him say, _Link, you lucky…_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Door Locks and Orlox Part 1**

**Michael POV**

I was known for my various skills back in my world.

I was a talented musician, martial artist, and a decent mathematician. I had a knack for ice-skating, and for memorization. I was a mediocre code breaker, and a reliable source of information at both Middle school and High school. I was creative, well spoken, had possession of an extensive vocabulary, and was fluent in three languages (Bengali, an Indian dialect, English, and German) and knew words from damn near all of them. I was also known for the passionate zeal with which I attacked any task set before me. use in situations for which they hadn't been designed. I stood out for my amiability to strangers, and my seemingly endless patience.

And look what has become of the usefulness of all those skills in this strange world where I am bound to exist. All my skills, reduced to absolutely NOTHING. All but a few of my abilities are completely useless now. My musical ability is bound to be of use if I can find an instrument. I still need to train my martial arts ability back to its previous level, though I retain the reflexes and the physical strength from that training. My ability to commit things to memory might come in handy, as well as my code breaking knowledge.

I am forced to start anew. I now know how the rich barons coming off the _Mayflower_ felt: All of their powers back in England meaning nothing in the new land. But at least those barons had others with them for company; and they weren't in the company of another race who was extremely prejudiced against them immediately after arriving on the shores of what they called the New World. That came later for them

As I was thinking this, I was also staring in wonder at my new room. There was a large fireplace, complete with a grille in front of it and some black logs already in it. There was also a rather large and obviously comfortable sofa on the wall opposing the fireplace and a large and quite luxurious four-poster made of a strange black wood. Now I see why Midna found it amusing that I'd called these "quarters"; there's nothing spartan about this place at all.

As I looked around further, I noticed a veranda, which opened out into a good view of the courtyard of the Palace. Then something else caught my eye; it looked like a bookcase made out of the same strange wood as the four-poster. It also appeared to be filled with books. _Heh heh, _I thought, _they think of everything around here._ I was an avid reader; so a few books wouldn't go amiss. There was one in particular that caught my attention, it's title looked to be "The Beginner's Guide to Illusionary Magic"; beside that one, "Intermediate Illusions"; and last of all, "Illusions for Experts".

_Oh hell yes._ I thought with glee. I loved illusions. They appealed to me in their strange way, but that was probably my mischievous side. I took the beginner's book off the shelf and started reading.

**Midna POV**

As the door closed behind me, my mind was whirling with the strange self-contrasting personality of my new bodyguard; he had answered all my questions, but things still seemed strange to me; starting with the arena fight, then the attempted assassination, and the interview. Then with Michael accidentally destroying the door runes, then restoring them without knowledge of the spell, and the fact that he didn't seem perturbed by the events these past two days was peculiar in and of itself.

No. Actually, when you thought about it, it made sense how he'd fixed the Door Runes. All magic left behind a residue, if that sword was of darkness; then he probably used it to reconstruct the spell from the residue left behind by the Door rune's spell. That was likely how he was able to do it without the knowing the spell.

That was probably the only thing that made sense though.

_Dammit, Midna, would it kill you to ask him why he is the way he is? Why have I become so interested in finding out about him? Is it just curiosity? Maybe how he acts so out-of-place and yet, so comfortable amongst any set of circumstances? Or it could have something to do about how you let on more about yourself than you did when you first met Link?_

Then another voice rose up in answer.

In case you've forgotten, you weren't very trusting of what you called Light Dwellers back in those days.

Then my own mind offered a sharp retort.

_Times have changed, Midna, times have changed._

And indeed they have.

**Michael POV**

_Ok, after a few hours of reading and practicing, I think I've finally got the hang of it._ I hoped as I tried to create an illusion. The air in front of me shimmered, hazed, and then a perfect mirror image of me appeared.

"Yes! Took long enough, but I think I finally did it." I said with the great happiness that comes with making a breakthrough. The success was not easy to obtain. The first time I'd tried to make a mirror image of myself, it didn't even look remotely like me. The second time was worse; I created an illusion of myself at the age of two instead of fourteen. Hell, was I even fourteen now? I honestly doubted that, for multiple reasons. For one thing, my voice has suddenly changed quite a bit from what it was back in my world. Stranger still, my attitude was far more refined than usual, the way I'd acted in Midna's presence…wasn't normal for me; normally, I would've been either far more casual or far more shy. There was also the matter of my fight against that idiot who called himself 'the Manticore'. Good Lord! The damn things are supposed to be intelligent (**A/N: Assuming, of course, that having a human head gives you a human brain. After all, it works that way with a Sphinx**)! And yet my adversary was asking me what I cooked meat with! Oh good sweet Lord! Of course, the weirdest thing was how easily I'd gotten angry in that arena; normally, I had much better control over myself. Looking over myself, I noticed that there was also the matter of my sudden gain in muscle mass, which had given me the endurance to even survive that long fight. That all chalked itself up to one thing; the goddesses had aged me for whatever reason.

Ah well, at least that's the only idiot that I've had to deal with. I suddenly let off a tendon-popping yawn and looked at the grandfather clock that I'd just now noticed in the corner opposite to my four-poster.

_Holy crap! I spent four hours practicing Illusionary Magic! Four hours!_ I thought to myself in bemused horror. _And it's almost time for dinner, if they have the same dinner hours as I do! Well you know what? To hell with dinner! I'm too tired to tolerate any more formalities!_ Right on cue, there was a knock on my door. Mumbling angrily, I strode to the door, fixed my composure, and fired off a small bolt of darkness from Kaladbolg to open the door.

"Yes," I said as pleasantly as possible, quite the feat considering how annoyed I was. _What the hell? Have I become bipolar or something?_ I wondered, surprised with my own suddenly irate mood.

"I have come to inform you that the Princess requests your presence in the council's dining hall for dinner. The Twili Royal Council will be present as well. Please follow me to the hall." The young errand-runner said. As I removed my cape and left it hanging on the rack I thought, _Maybe this won't be so bad. After all, who said being a bodyguard is without perks?_

**No POV(I will occasionally be using this to better describe events)**

_Heh heh, that foolish Light Dweller will never know what hit him._ Councilor Andovar thought with a strange giddiness as he the messenger returned, saying that the Light Dweller had been led into the Twili Elite Guard's training area. _That fool thinks he will be going to dinner, what he doesn't know is whose dinner it will be. _The councilor was unable to keep a strange grin off his face. This prompted a concerned inquiry from the messenger, but he simply waved off the boy. _It's a pity that they don't have any flesh-eating monsters in that training area. But it won't be too much of a mess to clean up. At least it shouldn't be_, he thought in slight concern, preparing the spell that would allow him to see into the chamber and record the Light Dweller's defeat for his own enjoyment and for Midna's.

_Besides, Orlox cleans up after himself quite well._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This battle was written to the tune of Linkin Park's "Breaking the Habit" Just so you know.**

_**Chapter 6: Door Locks and Orlox Part 2**_

**Michael POV**

Walking into the room, I immediately saw that this was _not_ a dining hall by any stretch of the imagination. There was an enormous vaulted ceiling from which banners of the Fused Shadows hung, the walls had strange runes carved into them, and there were quite a few weapon racks on the walls. The weapon racks had everything from swords to clubs to whips to morningstars to crossbows. There were rings of black drawn into the room in rows. I turned back to leave, but the door slammed shut. I fired a small bolt of darkness at the door and it didn't budge even slightly. Quite frustrated by now, I tapped deeper into my emotions, deeper into the potential of Kaladbolg's power.

But the feeling that came with it was strange.

My senses suddenly felt…heightened, more acute. The room was suddenly exposed in far greater detail to me; I could smell the faintly metallic scent of…old blood? And if my ears don't deceive me, someone wearing a full set of plate armor is attempting to sneak up behind me.

WAIT, WHAT!

I quickly rolled forward on a command that was not my own. Coming out of the roll standing up, I turned to face my foe. And not a moment too soon, a enormous great sword crashed into the ground where I'd been standing not even a second ago. My opponent was huge, at least eight feet tall; his armor was akin to a Darknut's, but it was purple and the helm didn't have a crest, plus he was wearing a long purple cape. Then it spoke, its voice a harsh grinding of steel on steel.

"I am Orlox, born of battle, raised in battle, matured in battle. You are now my prey. I have never failed at catching my prey. The Twilight Realm's finest soldiers are weaklings before me! You cannot escape! You cannot kill me! Death is my life!" it gestured with its great sword toward me and spoke, "You are naught but a plaything for me, Light-Dweller! Come! Come and I will make you death swift!"

I looked at it for a good few seconds, dazed at having cheated death by such a short margin. _Did I just walk in on a Twili equivalent of Theater?_ I thought humorlessly.

"You dare mock me, Light-Dweller!" it suddenly boomed. Seeing my surprised face, it laughed, "Yes, I can read your thoughts. They are but a book for me to look through at my leisure!"

_Oh crap, this ain't good, _I thought with dismay, _How am I supposed to fight something that can tell what I'm going to do?_ Suddenly, a strange piece of a memory flitted through my mind.

_Tommyknockers, Tommyknocker, Knocking at my door._

_ Wanna go out, dunno if I can. 'Cause I'm so afraid of the Tommyknocker man._

_ I was crazy and Bobbi was sane. But that was before the Tommyknockers came._

Of course! In the book "The Tommyknockers", the protagonist is able to jam others from listening to his thoughts by running a screen composed of random jumbled up stuff that is normally floating on the surface of the human mind. _So you can read my thoughts, eh? Well read this._ I thought grimly. I let go of my mind's controls and let the surface become so clouded over with every single thought, idea, and plan going through my head until the screen was an impregnable barrier. _And now for that extra touch that matters so very much._ I thought in humor as I added every single Guitar Hero and Rock Band track I'd ever listened to into the mix. It didn't even matter that the thoughts weren't always complete; hell, that made it better. I saw Orlox falter, then set himself, falter again, and looked around dazedly, as though there was an impenetrable cloud surrounding

Suddenly, a familiar face was superimposed on Orlox's helmet, and his arms went limp at his sides. A different voice from Orlox's spoke with a tone of annoyance.

"Don't think this ends here, Light-Dweller scum! Your strange powers hold no sway over me. I will simply take control of Orlox and best you for the mediocre swordsman you are!"

"Now, now, let's not be petty here," I said flippantly, my other personalities seemed to want to come out and play. "Although, to tell you the truth, the feelings are mutual." I smiled teasingly as he fumed.

"You will not leave this room alive!" Councilor Andovar screamed.

**Midna POV**

"You will not leave this room alive!" I heard someone scream from behind Councilor Andovar's door. _Ok, playtime is over,_ I thought grimly, _Something weird is going on in there, and judging by the screams, it can't be pretty._

I decided to forgo the niceties of privacy and focused my power for a stronger blast. When the power had charged sufficently, I simply directed it into the door and the door ceased to exist. I walked into the room to find the councilor standing in front of a scrying pool…and no one else in the room.

"What, by the eternal darkness, is going on?" I said, confused. Andovar quickly turned around and moved to block the scrying pool.

"I…umm…well…ah…nothing." He said hopefully. Ugh, what a pitiful attempt at lying. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice shout, "Hey, Andovar, why don't you come down here and face me yourself?"

As I looked on in, Andovar whirled to the scrying pool and shouted, "Maybe I will!" Turning to three guards who were standing outside the door to back me up, he said, "You three, grab some crossbows and meet me at the Twili Elite Guard's training center. We have us an annoying Light Dweller to kill!"

_Oh great, here he goes again._

**Michael POV**

While Andovar was still talking to someone I couldn't see in the superimposed image, I was taking advantage of the recess from fighting to scour the weapon racks, looking for something useful. I ended up picking a crossbow and a few spears. I turned to face the thing and drew Kaladbolg, tapping into emotions. As I picked it up, though, the crossbow started to change. The whole crossbow turned black as Kaladbolg and where the bolt would've gone on the crossbow's table was a blood red bolt. Black fire exuded from the thing like it was constantly burning, and it gave of a very strange…vibe.

Strange.

But anyway.

Aiming the crossbow, no easy feat for someone who has used crosshairs to aim things all his life, I fired off a bolt from the newly Darkened crossbow (**A/N: Not a typo, I will capitalize when a weapon is infused with an element**), aiming for the eyes. It missed and pinged off his chestplate instead. I looked around for the ammo racks when I noticed that there was another bolt already on the table. _Heh heh, looks like I won't need to worry about running out anytime soon._ I let off another bolt, this one hitting the superimposed image and…shattering it? _Uh-oh, that wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had. _I thought sorrowfully as Orlox seemed to regain control over itself and raised its sword and shield again. I aimed again and this time my efforts came to fruition. The bolt almost seemed to move in slow motion as it flew straight at the infinitesimal gap between Orlox's helm and his faceguard and sank into a dark something in a gushing of black blood. Orlox roared in pain and clutched his helm; taking advantage of his weakness, I took aim a bit lower and was about to fire when Orlox shook off his pain and ran straight at me. I barely got out of the way and was struck a glancing blow from his shield. The wind was knocked out of me and both Kaladbolg and the crossbow flew out of my hands as I was knocked to the floor.

"HAH!" Orlox shouted through the haze of my dizziness. "What can you do now? With no weapons, you might as well hurl yourself at me!"

_No weapons?_ went through my mind once and the haze cleared. I was faintly aware of headache I was bound to have in the morning, if I survived that long, as I drawled in a voice I didn't think I'd be able to replicate when un-injured.

"No…weapons? I…beg to…differ." I said, out of breath from the shield blow and quickly losing strength. Having said this, I put my hand on the nearest hilt attached to my belt and drew with my waning strength, but the hilt wouldn't come out…it was too heavy. Feeling more and more faint, I gripped the handle with both hands…and felt a surge of bright light fill the room and obliterate blackness that was throwing a veil over my vision. _Wow, I was pretty close to being knocked out, since when was I such a weakling to nearly be put out by a single hit; from a shield no less!_ I realized grimly.

Slowly, my gaze drifted to the blade I now held in my hands, its harsh light shining far brighter than the sols that illuminated the room. Still moving like I was underwater, my eyes floated to my nemesis. Orlox looked to be in no condition to fight, he was simply doing everything in his power to keep that light from making direct contact with him. Suddenly, his armor started glowing with strange patterns when realization struck me. _His armor is magically enhanced,_ My mind screamed, _That was why he recovered so quickly from that crossbow bolt to the eye and also why his shield hit me like a high-balling semi._ My brain flashed back to the scene in the hallway, when I'd accidentally shorted out all the Door Runes. Then it all added up, _The Twili are intolerant to light, of course! Why didn't I think of that! Especially when I've beaten the game that this world is based upon multiple times! _(**A/N: For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about LoZ: TP**)

"No weapons?" I said haughtily, "I should think not!"

Suddenly, the blade in my hand moved by itself dragging my hands behind it into a crescent slash that didn't hit Orlox but instead released a large crescent wave of light. The wave smashed into his armor; there was a bright flash as the runes attempted to fight off this surge of energy and they imploded, completely destroying his plate armor. When the afterimage of the flash faded from my eyes, he was clad in a simple mail of chain armor and for the first time in this contest, I could see the naked hatred on my opponent's black face, could feel it burning at me from his burning red eyes. The loathing in his visage was so forceful I involuntarily took a step back.

"Ha! You are not as brave as your fighting would say about you. You best me by no small margin, and yet my mere countenance is enough to make you falter!" Orlox spat, "But this is only the beginning! Now the true battle begins!" he boomed as he suddenly rose up into the air and raised his hand; a long staff with an emerald orb set in the head appeared in them. He spun it around in an intricate pattern and stuck it out behind him with the staff flat on the back of his arm. Then Orlox raised the staff and made a slashing motion. Again moving without my command, Claimh Solais's (**A/N: Shout out to you if you guessed it already.**) own command made me quickly sideflip as the part of the floor I was standing on split open with a mighty crack. As I stared at the spot where the spell hit, Orlox took advantage of my distraction to spin his staff around in a windmill, and then strike out suddenly. A large black bolt flew straight at me, but this time I rolled forward of my own will and shot out a bolt of my own as I stood up. The bolt looked like it was going to hit Orlox head-on when he quickly teleported away. He reappeared on the other side of the room, shock evident on his face.

"You have some strange skill." He said, gasping for breath from the closeness of that bolt.

_Martial arts training is kicking in, but not all the way. If I were back to black belt level skill, I would be dancing circles around this guy._ I reflected, taking some comfort in the thought that I now had an edge in the battle. _Don't get too cocky, Michael. You have the edge but not the upper hand._

"This is the mistake that you make in assuming that your style of fighting is the only way." I countered in a clear, carrying voice that wasn't my own. _Ahh,_ I noted sarcastically, _Apparently these swords add even more variety to my multiple personality disorder that I worked so hard to get under control._

"Multiple personalities?" Orlox said, "What does that have to do with anything?"

_And on top of all that, all this battling has made my shield slip. I better end this quickly._ I thought grimly.

"I agree; the time has come to end this toying." Orlox said. _Oh don't you know it._ I reflected on what would be the best way to finish this. Then, my gaze fell on Kaladbolg. Orlox and I looked directly at each other for a full second that stretched into eternity. Then, the moment shattered and we both ran for my black blade lying on the floor between us. I saw immediately that I wouldn't make it there first, so I fired off another bolt that hit Orlox full on. He was blown against the back wall, a shining spot evident where I'd hit him. I dashed the remaining distance and took one of my hands off Claimh Solais to grab Kaladbolg from the floor.

That wasn't a smart thing to do.

I froze in place, paralyzed by the two conflicting swords in my hands. I could feel enormous amounts of light and dark energy surging through me, threatening to tear me apart if I didn't regain control. _I did NOT come this far to be killed by my own swords!_ My mind screamed as, little by little, my willpower won over the rampant energy and laid my dominance upon it. As I came back to myself, I was surprised to see that Orlox was backing away from me slowly as though I might suddenly try to rip him to pieces.

"W-w-what…a-are you?" He said in a voice that quavered with fear.

"I am…" I trailed off looking at myself; the hand that held Kaladbolg was exuding a black fire from its very pores. The one that had held Claimh Solais was glowing with a hard blue-white light like there was a tiny blue sun in it. Orlox, looking desperate, spun his staff in pattern I couldn't even follow with my eyes. When he finally stopped spinning it, he had struck out the staff towards me, its emerald orb glinting with a strange light.

"DIE, LIGHT DWELLER! FEEL MY POWER AND FALL!" Orlox screamed, his steel-grinding-on-steel voice becoming shrill. The orb started to swell, pulsing with that intriguing green light. A voice I didn't know could've existed in my mind screamed, _Get the hell out of the way, idiot! Unless of course you want your remains to be spread around this room as though Jack the Ripper decided to change his target._ As I was about to do so, a stronger voice spoke in a rolling, compelling voice that seemed like it would've shaken the pillars loose if it wasn't contained inside me. I could tell immediately that this was Claimh Solais's voice, _No. Do not move. If you try to move away from that blast, you will die. You can stop this attack. In this state, your arcane power is augmented greatly by your willpower. Believe in yourself! You CAN survive this attack! Just let me guide you._

Orlox finally stopped charging his attack and his staff regurgitated an enormous green bolt. The orb pulsed with a sickish light as it traveled towards me. I instinctively threw up my hands in a cross in front of my face and set my stance solidly.

"Hah! As if that is going to be enough to stop even this spell! NO ORDINARY BEING, TWILI OR OTHERWISE, HAS SURVIVED THIS ATTACK! YOU MIGHT AS WELL GIVE UP!" He had to shout to make himself heard above the loud fizzing and crackling that the ball was making. His spurn, likely meant to dishearten me, just gave me more strength to defy this statement.

"I AM NO ORDINARY BEING!" I shouted.

Then the spell made contact.

There was a loud _BOOM_ and an enormous cloud of dust.

_Wait, dust? I can see? I'M STILL ALIVE!_

"NO! HOW! NO ONE HAS SURVIVED AND YOU SIMPLY TURN IT ASIDE UNSCATHED!" screamed Orlox. Poor guy is going to lose his voice at this rate.

The dust cloud has settled quickly, and I saw that I was completely untouched. I was still glowing with that strange ethereal light and burning with that comprehendible dark fire. I opened my mouth to speak and was surprised how calm I sounded, how very unfazed I felt.

"Orlox, pitiful creature, you have yet to understand the power of thought, of the mind, of will. I am a manifestation of my own willpower. You know not my power."

Just then, the door exploded into fragments and three Twili with crossbows stormed through. They immediately started firing and I heard the harpy's cry as the many crossbow bolts sped towards me…and then stopped dead in mid-air, stopped by a simple wave of my hand. Another figure charged in from behind them who I recognized as Andovar.

"What the…?" His voice trailed off into silence.

"Leave," I said in a commanding voice, "This contest is between to me and Orlox."

"Who are you to-" Andovar was starting to say when I lost patience and decided to help him on his way along with his now-flying troupe of crossbow men.

"Now," I said as pleasantly as I could considering the circumstances, "Where were we?"

"Ummmm…DIE!" Orlox screamed, firing off a huge bolt of green magic.

"Ah yes, that's exactly when you do just that, dying that is." I focused my power on stopping that bolt, then I had a better idea. Making as though I was going to catch it, I grabbed the bolt out of mid-flight and started improvising. I tried to see if I could concentrate on reforming the suspended magic attack and found that it molded quite easily. I started experimenting with the different shapes I could reform it into when Orlox fired another bolt. Instinctively, I hurled the bolt I was holding toward it and expected the attack to dissipate. Instead, the bolt doubled in size and rebounded towards Orlox.

He growled something inaudible as he swung his staff around to bat it back at me. I caught the bolt once again and renewed my attempts to fulfill my curiosity about the malleability of this attack. Orlox launched another bolt; more secure this time, I block the spell with the one I'm holding in my hands and am satisfied to see that the captured spell grow in size again.

Orlox's eyes gleam with an idea and he says in a chilling tone, "So, you can block my attacks with the one you captured. Let's see how much energy you can handle!" Grinning though there is nothing humorous about this, he started launching attack after attack after attack. As the bolt started to grow exponentially in size, I looked around frantically for something to release the pent-up energy in the amalgamation of magic that is threatening to rip me apart. He lands and starts advancing towards me, keeping up the steady barrage of magic.

"HAH! If you will not fall from my power, you will fall from the power which you fail to control!" He shouted.

For a moment it actually seemed that way. Then my eyes fell on the pillar behind Orlox. If I released this amalgamation on that pillar, it would probably fall on him. Whether or not that would take care of him I had not the time to calculate. _Well, it's now or never._ He seemed to hear that and his grin faltered, along with the rest of him.

"I beg to differ." I said, straining with the effort of keeping this raging energy under control. I quickly flattened it into a Frisbee-like projectile and brought my arm back to throw it. Orlox thought I was going to throw it at him and immediately leaped as I threw the disc-like bolt of magic. It passed under him and he started laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU MISSED!" He shouted. Then my face arranged itself into an unnerving smirk that stopped him cold.

"I wasn't aiming for you." I stated, my word punctuated by a loud crack as the disc collided with the pillar and took off a chunk of the side I was facing.

Orlox, his eyes wide with horror, spun around just in time to see the pillar fall on him with a loud crash. A cloud of dust flew up, leaving me coughing a bit. When it cleared, Orlox was gone. As I looked around, my eyes fell on a long, black, great sword much like the one he had carried before he traded plate armor for a chainmail embedded in the floor in front of me. As I picked it up, a familiar voice echoed through my mind.

_"You have made for a worthy opponent, Light Dweller. Long ago, when I was not as bitter, before the Founder-Kings united us, I was considered one of the most skilled warriors in the village I'd lived in. Some said that I had become a vampire through some sort of Faustian deal, and was undefeatable because of this. After a while, everyone believed this to be a fact because no one else had told them differently. Eventually, I became the village outcast, shunned by all but not thrown out of the village due to their strange pity for me. Then, one day, one of the stupider members of the village decided to do something about me. I was sleeping when he attacked, so he took the time to take my blade to kill me. When I woke up, my own sword was at my throat. He raised it up dramatically, cursed me, and was bringing it down when my only son burst into the room and fell in the path of the blade. As I watched, one of the only people I'd ever cared about fell to my own blade. I got up, broke the arm holding the blade, and took it back. Then, I broke both of legs while he was defenseless, dragged him to the house of the village wise man and told him of my situation and asked him for his advice. He had me promise that would never happen again and undergo a blood pact to ensure secure this promise. The sage facilitating the pact made an addendum: If one could defeat me, then my weapon would be theirs to wield. He told me that this was for the sake of being able to redeem myself through someone else. To redeem myself, of course, either I or a rightful wielder of this blade would have to prevent something like what had made me the brutal being I am now from happening. So, with the sacrifice of the thief's blood to complete this pact, I also enchanted it to be able to take any form I would require of it. The ability has long been dormant, though, and will need to be renewed by the wise one of my people. It might be hard for you to wield this blade, seeing as it is around three-quarters your size, though I'm sure you will get used to it. You should also do something about the arrangement your swords. I have some extra sword belts on my body; just use them and follow my instructions."_

I put both hands on the hilt of Orlox's blade and pulled and it shifted slightly. I pulled again and it slid out of the rock with a grinding noise. I held it up and admired it for a few moments; it was beautiful and compelling all at once in the elegant carvings in the blade and its enormous size and gleaming edge. The thing was noticeably larger than Claimh Solais, my biggest sword, and looked ready to cut down whoever made the mistake of getting in my way. _The weight is going to be a problem though_. The polished blade gave off a hypnotizing sheen as the ever-evening light of the Twilight realm shone on it. Then I remembered what he had just said.

"You can help me with a better arrangement for my swords?" I asked eagerly.

_"Certainly; the way you have arranged your blades now, you would be at an enormous disadvantage if the time came where you had to be able to draw your weapon quickly."_ The echoing voice of Orlox said in my mind.

I looked at the spot where the pillar lay and under it Orlox. Looking at my hands to see that both Claimh Solais and Kaladbolg were still assimilated with me, I imagined a sheath of restrained kinetic energy forming on my hand. I looked at the hand glowing with Claimh Solais's light to see a black film cover it. I stepped into a fighting stance: right foot back, left foot forward, feet shoulder-length apart, weight balanced. Leaning back, I slammed my fist into the pillar, pivoting to add even more force to the punch. The section of pillar didn't break off and fly into the wall like I expected it to; instead, it disintegrated and left cracks running along the whole pattern in spider web-like patterns. The crushed body of Orlox was at my feet and, trying not to look at the part of him that had been hit directly by the pillar, I looked through this little pouch at his belt. _What the hell?_

_"That would be my storage pouch, there is an enchantment on it that allows it to store much more than you'd think. I think the impact of that pillar might have damaged the spell, so just take the sword belts out and don't risk putting anything in there." _Orlox's voice suddenly spoke up, surprising me.

I rummaged around in the pouch for a few moments and found four sword belts. Then something occurred to me; how was I going to find a sheath big enough for that sword that Orlox gave me?

_"I think I had a spare sheath in the pouch too. But how are you supposed to carry that sword anyway? Don't you think it'd look weird to have a sword on your back that is quite close to being the same height as you?"_ he said.

"Uhh…I don't know if you hadn't noticed during the latter half of our fight but I think I just got taller from assimilating those two swords." I said, looking down to see that the floor was suddenly a lot further from me than it was before. "Of course, I do intend to try to use your sword even when I'm myself."

As I expected, the sheath was deep in his pouch and the thing was bigger than the blade._ Dammit, there will be no finesse when using this blade whatsoever._

_"Actually, there can be finesse. It will just take a while to get used to this things weight."_

"Can you still read my mind?" I asked tentatively.

_"Yup, though only my spirit remains within this blade. With enough practice, you can harness this power too, to an extent."_ He said.

By now, the crossbowmen had crept back into the room to see the Claimh Solais-Kaladbolg amalgamation of me standing over the felled pillar. With looks of morbid fear on their faces, they immediately backed out as fast as possible.

I swung the sword belts over my head, fastened them around my shoulders, and took up Orlox's blade in one hand; Then I strode out the door and was immediately under a barrage of magic. I shook off my surprise quickly and flicked a hand at the barrage dismissively. The magic storm immediately broke off and I could see that even Midna was looking at me like I was someone else.

"Look, I don't know what happened. One minute, I was holding Claimh Solais and Kaladbolg in my hands, the next; I'm this insanely powerful amalgamation of my willpower and my swords." I said quickly.

"If you're Michael, then who was the other thing we heard? And who's sword are you holding?" She said, awe evident in her tone.

"Oh this?" I said, gesturing with the sword, "This is Orlox's blade."

"WHAT! You killed Orlox!" Councilor Andovar shouted as he stormed up to me. "I am going to have your head for chucking me out the door, just so you know. I will not tolerate it when someone attacks me!"

"Oh shut the hell up! The only thing that was attacked was your propriety and your pride. I will not suffer someone who doesn't know when to shut up and is half my height!", bowing in Midna's direction for effect, "I take my leave now, Your Highness." I spun on my heel and went back to my quarters; leaving Andovar turning purple with fury, Midna with an amused smile on her face, and with the best line I could hope for under the circumstances.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7: Necromancy and a New Dawn Part 1**_

**Michael POV**

As I entered my room, I looked at the nearby mirror to see what my new amalgamation form looked like. As I looked at myself I thought,_ Holy shit, no wonder Orlox was afraid of me._

I was quite a bit taller now; before, I barely touched seven feet tall. Now, I was a good eight feet tall. My right arm was glowing with Claimh Solais's energy and my left arm was burning black with Kaladbolg's dark power. The rest of my body was covered in a hungry white flame. I had demonic features: my hands were claw-like with what looked like small elbow blades. My hair was still normal except it was now gray instead of black. Then I noticed the strangest thing; I had freaking _wings_. They were bat-like but convex at the same time. I tried to control them and found that they were also quite strong, having accidentally hit myself in the face with one. _I have freaking demon wings! How much weirder does it get?_

Then it hit me. This was a manifestation of not just my willpower, but also the depths of my soul. In the deepest pit of his soul each man has the power to do the greatest good, but also the ability to commit the worst atrocities.

_How do I leave this form? I can't exactly go walking around as an eight-foot tall demon._ I thought about it for a while, then realized that it was probably a very simple solution, _If willpower is measure of power in this form, then can't it be the way to leave it._

_CLAIMH SOLAS! KALADBOLG! LEAVE ME!_

At my mental command, I felt a great power departing from my control and suddenly, the two swords were in my hands. As I sheathed the blades, a great weariness came over me and I was barely able to stagger over to my bed before merciful sleep claimed me.

**Midna POV**

_Ugh, is this day never going to end?_ I thought, disgusted with the attempt on Michael's life by Councilor Andovar. But there was something stranger still to be dealt with. How had Michael not just defeated but _killed_ one of the most powerful warriors in the Twilight Realm.

_Well it's not like Link couldn't do that-_

Another part of my mind quickly interjected, _Stop thinking about Link already! You broke the Mirror, so you have to deal with it!_

The former part of my mind offered a quick counter, _But is it broken for good? What about Michael? Didn't he say that he was supposed to fix it?_

I thought about going to ask him about why he had come here again, but I realized that he was probably asleep by now. I remembered with a smile how he had stung Andovar verbally, _I will not suffer someone who doesn't know when to shut up and is half my height!_ He had said. _Ah well,_ I reflected as I imagined the fuss Andovar would make about this at the next meeting, _At least my new bodyguard has a sense of humor._

"'Half my height!' Now that was funny!" I said to myself.

**Michael POV**

_Where am I?_ I thought to myself as I looked around the massive chamber, _Wait a minute, are those the pedestals?_ Just as I thought, those pedestals with their strange symbols on them told me where I was.

"Ok, where are you? I know you're here somewhere." I called out.

"Well, you catch on quickly." A powerful, reverberating voice said.

"Let me guess…Din?" I said flippantly.

"Yes…I am Din," the being said in its power-filled voice.

"Then could you tell me why I'm here?" I asked.

"Well, there was something we wanted to give you."

As the words were spoken, a small book appeared in a flash of light and floated towards me.

"Take it," the voice of Din said, "It is what we call a 'Grimoire'. Normally, it would be used to record spells, but we modified it so you can record memories other things as well. And don't worry about ink or pages; this book will feed directly from what your mind gives it."

"Thank you very much for this gift." I said humbly as my dream faded to black.

I woke up with a start to the sound of the grandfather clock on my wall striking another hour. As I got up, a brown something slipped off my chest onto the floor. I bent and picked it up to see that it was the grimoire

Over the course of the next few days, I went about my duties, made my rounds, and stood guard at the meetings. As expected, Councilor Andovar bitched ad nauseum about my insult to him that day when I killed Orlox. Unexpectedly, they laughed and while they didn't support me openly, I knew that I had gained some small amount of respect of most of them. It turns out that Andovar is not so well liked amongst the Twili High Council. This would most definitely work to my advantage later on.

The days marched their uneventful course; I read more about magic, practiced, I surprised myself with how quickly I absorbed the concepts of illusion magic. Soon, I finished with Illusions, I moved on to other magics. I was going to have to ask Midna about making a magic storage pouch later. I tried out some elemental magic to find that my ability with the elements was augmented with my elemental swords. I left off at a mediocre level of elemental control when I found another book. This one was old and molded, the title barely readable. I handled it carefully and opened it up to the first page. Over the weeks, I'd gone over the various ways to fix the Twilight Mirror, everything from elemental blasts to physically finding the fragments and melting them into a new mirror. These theories were quickly discarded before receiving any thought at all.

Exasperated, I had gone back to knowledge from my previous life, sifting through the troves of trivia and factoids I'd gathered over the years. Then, I pieced together a theory that was actually quite feasible. Both Zant and Ganondorf didn't seem to require the power of the Twilight Mirror to cross the gap between the two worlds. They probably used the Triforce of power to make the leap. Seeing as Zant borrowed his power from Ganondorf, this would make sense. So all I would have to do is somehow 'borrow' the Triforce of Power from Ganondorf.

"All I have to do?" I had said to myself, "Easier said than done by all means!"

Now, however, looking upon this book, I could feel that there was a way to fulfill my duty; and that way was now within my reach. Before I even saw the title of the book I was able to tell this, but the title helped to confirm my belief. The title was written in faded gold lettering across the inside cover.

The title was…_Necromancy. The secrets of the forbidden art._

Perfect. Necromancy was the art of magically bringing something back to life. Once brought back, the being was under the Necromancer's control. What's more, the Necromancer could also draw energy from those long dead. In war, a Necromancer was your worst possible nightmare. They could draw energy from the slain and heal themselves, and then they could turn your own dead soldiers against you. Not only are they able to amass an enormous army from their enemy's dead, but also they absolutely destroy morale.

Perfect.

I opened the book to its first pages and started read the pages and pages of notes, spells, tips, facts, trivia, knowledge, and experiments by other necromancers. I red, hungrily devouring in the information, hours passed without notice, I red.

I closed the book, my need for confirmation and information finally sated, and a great weariness broke over me like a water balloon.

The next morning, I decided to ask Midna about what I'd found out.

"Excuse me, Princess, I think I might have found a way to fix it." I said at the first opportunity.

"It?" she said. Then her eyes widened, as she understood what I meant. "Very well, come in and tell me what you know." She said, stepping aside to let me in.

Once I was inside, she immediately closed the door and sat down at a round table near a fire.

I sat down at the other side and we talked, I told her about my idea, and, as expected, she gave me one of those 'have-you-finally-lost-it?' looks.

"Are you out of your mind? You want to resurrect Ganondorf to fix the Mirror! And you want my help!" She finally said when I'd finished.

I briefly considered that it wasn't entirely impossible when another part of my mind kicked in. "_Look_, Princess, I was sent here to find a way to fix the Mirror of Twilight. And I wouldn't even be here to begin with if it hadn't been broken! In the past few weeks, I have been snatched from my world and placed in one I didn't even know existed. I have been bombed, slashed at, shot at, had _Orlox_ try to kill me, and had to tolerate the, excuse my language, _straight-up BITCHING_ of a Twili noble who has tried _multiple_ times to kill me! So I _think_ it wouldn't be too much to ask of you to at least _help_ me get to the Light Realm!" a well deep inside of me had been tapped, and it was quickly overriding the faculties of my mind that would normally never allow me to act this way. Even Midna looked kind of dazed. She seemed mull over it for a long time when, growing impatient, I said, "Your decision won't matter too much Princess; I mean to find a way into the Light Realm, and when I want to do something, I _will_ do it regardless of the cost or potential consequences."

She considered things for a little while longer and finally said, "Very well, I presume you have some way of controlling Ganondorf when you resurrect him?"

"Yes," I said, unable to keep a note of triumph from my voice, "That is one of the perks of Necromancy, you control whatever you raise."

"For whatever good that will do," she said dourly.

"I don't quite understand."

"Let me put this way for you then," Midna said, her voice gaining a sarcastic edge, "You are going to attempt to raise the self-proclaimed Lord of Darkness from the dead and control him. Is it clear now."

"Very," I said, unfazed.

"Good. I just wanted you to know how crazy this is before you even attempt to do it." she paused for a moment, "But how are we going to get into the Light Realm?"

"Quite simple," I said, though it was anything but, "We will use the power from the Fused Shadows to facilitate a cross-dimensional teleport. Only one catch," I left it off at there.

"What?" she said.

"Umm…well…you see…I don't know how to teleport yet." I said, again embarrassed.

"No problem, I'll do it," she said reassuringly.

"Ok then, do you have any time constraints preventing you from leaving anytime soon?"

"Umm…time constraints? Your planning a cross-dimensional teleport to the Light Realm to resurrect the Lord of Darkness to repair the Twilight Mirror and you're still worried about whatever time constraints I may have thanks to a bunch of old men shouting at the top of their lungs in a closed chamber which, by the way, comes _very_ close to driving me insane?" Midna said disbelievingly.

"Well…ok it was a bad question. I going to need some time to get some preparations together," turning to leave, I just remembered something, "Say, Princess, could you teach me how to do that storage spell?"

"Sure." She said.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8: Necromancy and a New Dawn Part 2**_

**Michael POV**

After learning the storage spell and testing it out with Orlox's sword before returning it from the storage "Pocket" as Midna called it, I asked her where I could get some bottles in case we needed to store anything. She smiled, though I thought I could see a pang of regret in that smile and gave me some Rupees to buy some. I found the shop easily enough and bought about seven bottles, the order went through quickly and the shopkeepers were more than happy to get rid of me as soon as possible. With the bottles in hand, I went to a potion shop to get some blue potion. Some strange, ethereal force took over me as I entered the posh little shop though, and I only ended up buying two bottles of blue potion; the rest were red and green potions. As I walked back outside, the force's hold on me disappeared, leaving me very confused.

The preparations for the journey to the Light went without anything unexpected happening. On the day before our scheduled departure, I picked out a book that said, 'Codes, Ciphers, and other Deceptions'. _Hmmm…uncreative, but what the heck?_

As I pulled out the book, I heard a series of grinding noises and the bookcase itself moved aside to reveal a hidden chamber with a few dark objects inside. As I walked inside I pulled out Laevateinn for light. I didn't risk using Claimh Solais for fear of destroying whatever was in there.

Inside was what looked like a figure with human-like limbs holding a set of armor in place, as well as a few racks of stuff that I couldn't identify. Moving closer, I saw that the racks held an assortment of…weapons. What in the world? Was this some sort of weapons cache?

"I see you found the weapons cache that the last bodyguard left behind," said a voice behind me.

Startled I whirled around to see Midna standing in front of the space in the wall where the bookcase had been.

"Don't worry, you aren't doing anything you shouldn't be," as I looked around, the secret room suddenly illuminated itself and revealed the now lit lantern hanging in the center of the whole mess. The armor on the manikin shone in the light of the lantern. It was completely black, and wasn't really armor so much as it was an obsidian-plated hooded robe with a strange yet vaguely familiar design on it. There were gauntlets too, black as Kaladbolg and with what looked like the Twili Royal Crest on the arm guards.

"You can try it on, if you want." Midna said, breaking my reverie-like gaze upon the obsidian-plated robe. The racks beside the manikin had quite the assortment of weapons; from crossbows to swords, daggers, throwing knives, even a Morningstar.

"Just out of curiosity," I said, "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah, shoot."

"How did you face down Orlox? I mean, he's the best warrior we have, and you bested him! The mere sight of him would send all but the most seasoned of Elite Guardsmen running for their lives! And what was that demonic mockery of you that came out of the chamber?"

"I don't know," I said after thinking.

"What do you mean you don't know? One does _not_ go through a fight like that and say they don't know how they won."

"It's just…he wasn't really himself anymore, only a bitter shell of a person. He wasn't thinking, just going through the motions. I think that he was simply tired of a life of war. He just…I don't know how to describe it, but it was almost painful…I got a glimpse of what he once was when I defeated him. His only life was on the battlefield ever since his son died." I said, my voice cracking minutely.

"Wait, how do you know all this?" Midna said, suddenly suspicious.

I held up Orlox's sword and said, "There is a bit of him in this sword, part of the blood pact he went through. The person facilitating the blood pact made an addendum; if someone wielding his sword could prevent what had happened to him from happening again, then the vow would be fulfilled. This ensured that if someone beat him and took his sword, they could see to it that the vow be kept and Orlox's soul allowed some peace," I paused for a moment, "But enough, you have your answer. Now could you please let me try this on?"

"You do know that you can just wear it on top of your tunic," She said, slightly amused.

"Oh," I said, quickly doing so.

As I put the gauntlets on, I noticed some strange looking grooves in the place where it would be covering the underside of my wrist. The grooves were strangely smooth, unlike the rough leather that the gauntlet was made of. When I had both of them on, I made a flicking motion with my right arm to check the tightness of the armbands. Suddenly, there was a quiet _Shink_ and a nine-inch long blade sprung out from under my wrist.

"What the…" I said, unable to think of anything else. I tested the other arm, and a blade of the same length sprung out from the same place.

"Well, he never showed me this feature." Midna said, also sounding surprised.

"Who?"

"The last guard to modify those gauntlets. He probably enchanted those blades to be unaffected by heat as well as being unbreakable; it was a little obsession of his, making weapons that couldn't be damaged." She explained.

I felt a lopsided smile form on my face as I said, "Cool."

"Well then, I'm off." Midna said before leaving the room.

I stayed in the secret chamber long enough to take a crossbow off the weapon rack and put the book back as I exited. With the book back in place, the bookcase slid back to where it was. I looked at the gauntlets to see that the blades were still out; thinking about what to do, I figured that maybe a mental command would work. _Close_, I directed the thought at the blades and they slid back into place.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

I remembered the Grimoire and opened it up, it seemed that I had unconsciously put most of my knowledge into it. There were pages upon pages upon pages of spells, codes, formulas, stories, memories, and… and the list went on and on and on until I stumbled upon something different. It looked like…a diary entry?

_Are you serious! A diary? Why? Of all the things that this book could include, it had to be a diary. Oh well. Hey…are those…lyrics? HELL YES! I am now comforted by the fact that at least I have something to do when I get bored. And that is listening to the memories of music that have been recorded in some strange way._

With this knowledge, I closed the Grimoire and started looking through the bookcase for something else to read.

**Midna POV**

The day of our planned departure was one of the longest I'd ever lived through. The Council meeting seemed to take forever, dragging on and on and on with infinite slowness. When the meeting was finally over, it took an enormous effort to keep myself from bursting out cheering that the long and dreary process of the meeting had been survived. When I got back, I immediately searched for a quill pen, ink, and some paper. Finding these, I started to write out a note explaining my temporary absence. As I finished, there was a green flash and Michael appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"Haha! I finally got the hang of teleporting! That is another type of magic added to my list. Now I have knowledge in elemental, illusionary, and teleportation magic as well as some mastery over Necromancy." He shouted triumphantly, then seeing his surroundings his face quickly became red with embarrassment.

_And that's the third or fourth time he's done something like that._ I thought to myself, amused by his theatrical antics.

"Good for you," I said sardonically.

"Umm…yeah…sorry about that…" his voice trailed off and I couldn't help but smile at his predicament.

"But in any case, are you ready for our departure?" He said, his tone grave.

In response, I summoned the Fused Shadows, and let them float around me. His face was a mask of awe as he saw the ancient relics hovering right in front of him. I quickly put the image aside though, and focused on the Light World. _Take us there. Take us there. Take us there._ My command to the Fused Shadows was heard, as they quickly slammed together to form a stone helmet. As the completed Fused Shadow descended on my head, everything plunged into darkness. But then I could see again, and far better than before. Michael seemed to be backing away from me, his look of awe replaced by one of horror.

"What?" I snapped, "Is this thing really that ugly?"

Michael raised one eyebrow and said, "Not really," in a shaky voice.

"Then come on, I need to maintain physical contact with you if we're going to teleport there."

"Can't you just…you know…open a portal?" He said.

"Good point," I said, amused that I hadn't though of it before. I started to bend the power of the Fused Shadow to my will. _Take us there. Take us to the Light World. Take us to Hyrule. Take us to the Arbiter's Grounds. Take us to Link!_ Abruptly, the Fused Shadow's power stopped flowing through me. I opened my eyes worriedly, then I saw the portal in front of us.

_It worked._

_ It really worked._

"HELL YES!" Michael shouted, then he seemed to remember something, "Oh crap! I forgot to bring the throwing knives!" he quickly disappeared, leaving me alone for a few minutes.

It had finally worked; of all the things that would reunite me with Link, it would be the one object that had brought us together in the first place. _The Fused Shadows._

After a few minutes, there was a green flash and Michael popped back in, looking harried.

"We've got to get going. Now." He said, "Councilor Andovar sure chose a fine time to attempt to 'repay' me for that insult so many weeks back."

"What did you do?" I said, slightly worried.

"Trapped him in a darkness field."

I had to, once again, fight the urge to laugh. _Serves you right, you ass._ I thought to myself, remembering that it was Councilor Andovar who set up the match between Orlox and Michael.

"Well, looks like we're off." He said, stepping through the portal.

"Indeed we are." I said, following close behind him.

**Link POV**

As I looked upon the curve of beaten metal that once held the mirror, a great mix of sadness and longing filled my heart as I remembered, only a few weeks ago, how Midna had broken the last tie between my world and hers. _Dammit Link, why didn't you admit it? Why didn't you tell her? It might've helped things some._ Or maybe not, maybe it would've made things worse. Ilia's obsessing about both Epona and me in equal and copious amounts wasn't helping either. I sighed resignedly to myself, confused and unsure of what to do, or what I could do for that matter. The fact that I was unaccustomed to being this helpless wasn't making anything better.

I was looking at the Void Stone, where the Twilight Mirror shone its light onto the bare rock to create a portal into that beautiful world. This one held no more promise for me, even as a Hero, without her in it. Everywhere I looked, I saw painful reminders of her existence: The evening clouds, painted with the sun, reminded me of her fiery eyes and hair. The night's teal blue skies and the evening sun itself reminded me of her in their taunting ways.

Suddenly, a gloomy humming noise filled the Mirror Chamber, like the one the Sages made while lamenting the loss of one of them to Ganondorf.

"O, Hero, a great dark power approaches. It is creating a portal." They said as one.

As I readied the Ordon Sword and Hylian Shield, mentally cursing myself for putting the Master Sword back in the Sacred Grove so quickly, my gaze darted around searching for whatever "dark" power was coming this way. All of a sudden, a portal much like the Twilight Portals spread around Hyrule appeared in front of me. My mouth dropped open and my sword and shield hung limp at my side.

"M…Midna?" I said, utterly shocked.

A black figure stepped out of the Portal. No…it wasn't Midna. The stranger wore a black robe that glinted in the dull white light of the moon. There was a hood on the robe that covered most of its face, so I had no way of knowing who it was.

"Midna?" the stranger said in a masculine voice, "Sorry, I'm not Midna. Midna should be coming along any time soon."

As he was saying this, another figure stepped out of the portal. This one was much more familiar. _Midna,_ my mind screamed, and indeed it was Midna.

The first words out of her mouth were, "Link?"

"Midna? Is this some sort of mind trick." I said, confused

"No trick, they say, no trick, Link," he said in a strange, echoing voice. Noting both Midna and my stares he said, "Sorry, my bad."

"That was creepy. And how do you know my name?" I said, surprised.

"Umm…ah, I'm gonna let you two catch up. See ya," the stranger said, looking awkward.

"Where? There's no way out." I said.

"Oh," he said, "Ummmmm…"

Turning to Midna, I said, "Why?" in a sad voice.

"I didn't want anything like what we went through to happen again," she said in a pleading sort of voice.

"How could it happen again? Ganondorf's dead, remember?"

"I know, but still…"

"But nothing. Do you have any idea how much that hurt me?"

"Hey, uh, sorry to break things up, but shouldn't we be leaving for the nearest inn?" the stranger interjected.

Looking around, I saw that he had a good point. "Good idea, oh and by the way; who are you?"

The stranger held out a hand, "The name's Michael, and I suspect we all might be good friends in the events to come."

"What events?" I said, immediately on edge now.

"Oh, you know, fixing the Twilight Mirror, beating down whatever else rears its ugly head, and the usual stuff," Michael said offhandedly.

"Good point, again. Midna, if you be so kind." I said, rummaging around in the magic pouch for the black and orange crystal that was yet another memento to this hot-tempered Twili. Finding it, I handed it to Midna. She pressed it into my forehead with a smile on her face, the crystal melting into my skin.

When the familiar transformation was complete, I heard her say, "I know I didn't say this earlier, but you always made a cute wolf."

I gave my best attempt at a wolfish smile, as we were about to warp, prompting a muffled laugh from Michael and an impish smile from Midna. Then we all broke into black Twilight particles and the moment was lost.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9: Catching up and Contemplation**_

**Link POV**

When we reformed again, we were standing at the east entrance of Castle town.

"Well, this works." Michael said cheerily.

"Then let's find Telma's inn; I just hope she won't mind a few late night visitors." I said as Midna pulled the crystal out of my forehead, letting me turn back to my human self.

"Are you kidding? This wouldn't be the first time." Midna scoffed.

"Well, you have a point there." I said, remembering my _very_ late-night visits after a temple or dungeon. "Ah, what the heck, let's go."

As we made our way to Telma's inn, a process made much longer because Michael simply couldn't stop staring at everything we passed, we were walking by the tent of the S.T.A.R. Game show when one of the girls who was usually standing outside the tent whispered something to her other two friend and started following us. As we turned the corner I heard her yell, "SQUEEEEE!" and suddenly she was charging at us. As I turned around there was a loud _Bam!_ combined with a fizzling noise and the charging fan-girl was flying back to bounce to a stop a few feet away. Then my gaze drifted to Michael.

He stood stock still, hooded robe hiding his face, a black sword with a red aura in his hand, what I could see of his fingers through the gauntlets were apparently a bloodless white from gripping the sword so tightly. Then my ears picked up a humming noise and I looked closely at the space where the would-be glomper had hit something and bounced back, I noticed a barely visible black-and-red lens-like shield hovering in mid-air.

By now, the shocked fan-girl got up, ran off to her friends, and started screaming "Get away from me, monster!"

_Oh shit, now the rest of the people here are going to get worked up._ To avoid having to take care of a possible body count, I immediately grabbed the likely ticked off Michael's shoulder and started to pull him in the direction of Telma's bar. He appeared to break out of his stupor and brushed my hand off to start leaving the scene under his own power, quickly.

When we got to the bar, he was bent double and panting like he'd just run the length of Hyrule Field. "What's wrong? We barely ran a few meters," I said incredulously.

"I…have…four…swords…on…my…back…two…of…which…are…two-handed…" he said, taking a breath between each word.

"Oh," I said, surprised. Getting his breath back, Michael straightened up and walked over to the door, saying, "Well then, so this is Telma's Bar; or at least the outside."

His hand hovered above the door handle for a moment; then he turned it and stepped inside.

When he shut the door I turned to Midna and said, "Well, what's his story?"

She smiled a strange impish smile and said, "Well, it's a bit of a long story that started with the person in question literally flying into my realm courtesy of your bomb arrow."

"That would explain a lot." I said, memories of the last few moments of the Mirror of Twilight's existence flew through my head. So Michael was the mysterious swordsman, it seemed.

"And would you know anything about those four swords he said he was carrying?" I asked, incredulous.

"Four? No. He has five swords; though I suspect that he's probably kept the fifth one in a Twili storage pocket, along with some bottles, and some throwing knives," she said.

"Ok," I said, digesting all this, then remembering something, "Hey, since when are you so forthcoming with anything?"

"I don't trust him. He seems unassuming, but he hints at knowing far more than he probably should, considering that he popped into the picture _after_ our adventure," she said, her voice sounding slightly worried.

"Oh? How so?" I asked, curious.

"He says that he came here to fix the Mirror, but he _knows_ things he shouldn't. I'm pretty sure that this means nothing, but I think that during the job interview, he hinted towards either the day that we cleared Lakebed Temple and were immediately attacked by Zant, or the day when I first met you."

"Job interview?" I said.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you; he's also my bodyguard," she said, looking a bit sheepish.

"When did all this happen?" I asked, my head spinning with all the implications. Looking at the guy, I probably would've never suspected all this.

"In the past few weeks. Oh and I forgot to mention, if you think that one hint isn't enough to get you suspicious, here's something else: On the day before we intended to leave, he asked where he could find some bottles; for some strange reason, that also reminded me of our adventure."

"And you think he intended for it to?" I said disbelievingly.

"Like I said, it's weird. And it doesn't end there, but I'll tell you the rest later. He's probably suspicious by now," she finished.

As she continued to explain what had happened during those few weeks between her leaving and now, I became more and more suspicious of Midna's new bodyguard. Right as she finished, Michael popped his head out the door and said, "Come on, Telma said she wanted to meet Midna," turning his head back inside, he said, "Oh and by the way; Shad, you and Rusl both owe Telma fifteen Rupees. It looks like they were catching up." I heard two groans of disappointment issue from the slightly agar door followed by the tinkling of Rupees. Disbelief on my face, I walked into the bar to find Shad and Rusl hand some Rupees to Telma, who had the _I-told-you-so_ look on her face, while Ashei looked on with a semi-amused smirk on her face. Auru, apparently, wasn't here.

"Seriously? A betting pool?" I said, also amused.

"A rather small one, but a betting pool nevertheless," Shad said in his strange, scholarly voice, "It seems that books don't tell you everything." He sighed resignedly and sat back down, seeming to marvel at how his knowledge has failed him.

"Well, hun, what brings you here today? And who's the guy who for some reason simply will _not_ take off that hood? Seems like you know him," Telma said warmly, "But anyway, I have an even more important question; who's your friend over there?" she said, indicating Midna.

"His name is Michael, and he hasn't taken off that hood for the entire hour or so that I've known him. Her name is Midna and…ummm…well…" I said flushing slightly, "She's a…friend. She was the person I told you about who was with me during my adventure."

"Uh-huh," she said with a knowing smile on her face, "Seems like you're really good friends."

"Well…" I said, blushing, "You could say that."

Again she gave that knowing smile, then she looked slightly concerned about something.

"So where is this Michael in all this?" she said.

"Well, according to Midna, he came to fix something." I said, hoping that she would leave it there.

"And how would Midna know?"

_Oh boy, this could get complicated._

"Well…the thing is…he's also Midna's bodyguard."

"Oh! Well isn't that something new! I don't think I would've guessed that she needs one," she said, her eyes suddenly darting around, "Say, where'd Michael go?"

I turned around to see a black cloak swirl as its owner quietly shut the bar door.

"Ah well! You're probably starving. Here, let me get you something." She said.

**Michael POV**

As I left the bar, the crisp night air bade me look straight up at a shining, starry night sky filled with millions of twinkling points of light. This was where I felt truly at home, by myself in the dark, alone with my thoughts, and away from the too loud and too bright hubbub of the bar.

_Not enough._ I felt hemmed in by the walls around me, as though this was some sort of confinement. I looked around for some way out and spied the crates stacked near the entrance of the bar. _Looks like it is time to enjoy yet another hobby of mine, free running._ I thought mischievously. The crates were stacked high enough for me to be able to reach the roof from on top of them, provided I could jump high enough.

_Nothing like a good challenge._

I walked up to the crates, judged the height, crouched down, and jumped up, hands extended. I achieved a grip on the top row of crates, but wasn't able to keep my grip and slipped back down. I looked around for something to add some height and noticed a crate lying a short distance from the stack; it was the exact same size as the other crates. _Perfect._ I pushed the crate over to the others; now I only had to jump two rows of crates. Perched on my newfound support, I was easily able to jump up high enough to get a secure hold on the top row. Clambering up, I looked up to judge the height to the roof. _Too easy._ I crouched down again, jumped up, and quite easily reach the roof. Climbing up, I found myself at rooftop level with a beautiful full moon a quarter of the way through its long crawl through the sky. As I looked around, viewing the numerous uniform tiled roofs, I decided that this might be the best place to simply sit down and think. Doing so, with my legs hanging over the roof, I finally took off the black hood and allowed my now unrestricted eyes to drink in the peaceful splendor of the night.

_This is so much more beautiful than night in that polluted, corrupted anthesis of this world. A world suffering under the yoke of exploitation._

Then the more practical side of my mind broke in: _Who the heck are you kidding? This world is bound to have its share of evils._

Then the former part said:_ Oh shut up, would you? Can't you enjoy anything without finding some fault with it?_

My practical side: _You shut up. I'm the one keeping this guy sane and rooted in reality._

Now my overdramatic side joined in: _Can't you two just stop arguing? Can't we all just get along for once? Is it too much to ask? WHY?_

Both the practical side and the idealistic side proverbially stared at the overdramatic one: _Aren't you being a bit overdramatic? Again?_

Overdramatic side: **_NO!_**

Other two minds: _Ugh, why do we even bother?_

I quickly shook my head to rid myself of these annoying voices, concentrated on the beauty of the place, and allowed it to calm me. I let go of my surroundings and let my conscious self hide in the deep recesses of my mind.

Conscious side: _Ok, what are we planning here?_

Overdramatic side: **_Utter madness!_**

Conscious side: _Hey, who let him in here?_

Book-smart side:_ Well, we are currently planning to either resurrect the self-proclaimed Lord of Darkness or use our newfound powers of necromancy to draw enough power from him for the purpose of fixing the Twilight Mirror. That sum it up?_

Rest of us:_ Just about._

Paranoid side:_ There is just one small problem. What if the attempt to control the resurrected Ganondorf fails? What if our newfound companions don't trust us? We're probably all alone in this. Midna likely only agreed so she could see Link again. Now our purpose is served, we are no longer needed._

Angelic side:_ Ok, seriously, what is your problem? Don't you trust anyone?_

Paranoid side:_ No. Why should I? I am the paranoid side of him._

Devilish side:_ As humiliating as this is, I find myself in total agreement with my angelic counterpart. Sometimes it's a good idea to gain the trust of others. That way, you don't have to worry about them stabbing you in the back and are free to do so to them._

Angelic side:_ And you're right about this how? And how is that in agreement at all with my idea? There's a reason that you're the anthesis of me._

Conscious side:_ Oh great. Here we go again. I think I'm gonna leave this now._

Coming back to myself with a start, I looked around again, gaining my bearings. Having done so, I was about to climb back down when a sudden shout of "Hey!" from below made me look down at the space in front of the bar.

A Hylian guard had just gone down the staircase and noticed me sitting on the roof, causing him to freak out rather loudly.

"OI! What d'ya think you're doing up there?" he said gruffly.

"Sitting on a roof. Got a problem with that?" I said coldly

"Yeah, I got a problem with that," he said.

"Then why don't you come up here and do something about it?" I dared him.

"Maybe I will!" he shouted, then slumped, "After I get a few more drinks." He stumbled drunkly toward the bar door.

**No POV**

As the guard reached for the door, it suddenly exploded outwards, catching him full in the face.

"What's going on out here?" an irked Telma said. Then she looked down and saw the now floored guard. "What are you doing on the ground?" she said.

"Door hit me," he said, the faint sourness of alcohol on his breath. Getting up clumsily, he continued, "There's someone on your roof," before pushing past Telma.

He made it about three steps into the bar before Telma's hand was in a vice-grip around the scruff of his shirt. "OUT! You are way too drunk to have anymore! Nobody's on my roof! How would they get there?" she shouted before dragging him out. Turning back to Link and the others with a sweet, motherly smile on her face, she said, "Sorry you had to see that," to their stunned faces.

As the guard shambled out of the small square of empty space in front of the bar he looked back up at the roof. Michael was still there, and flashed a jaunty and thoroughly obnoxious smile at the guard. Grumbling to himself about an early hangover, the guard stumbled his way to the nighttime streets of Castle town.

"Well that was unexpected," Michael said sarcastically. Then he seemed to remember something, he quietly muttered an incantation to himself. He held his hand out and there was rush of Twilight particles forming a sword, then they solidified and Orlox's sword was in my hand.

It stayed there for all of about two seconds before Michael put it down quickly, muttering something about how anime had lied about the actual weight of those swords of ungodly size that protagonists would usually carry. He knelt down to the thing and focused his mind on the conscious inside the sword.

**Michael POV**

Conscious side: _So you said that you know a better way for me to arrange my swords?_

Orlox: _Yeah, and the first thing you need to do is to take the robe off so you can actually reach the swords._

Realizing that I hadn't taken the sword-belt off before putting the robe on, I pulled off the long robe and undid the sword belt.

A few hours later, I had taken three of the scabbards off of my original sword belt and put them on the extra ones I had procured from Orlox's body. Having done so, I positioned the swords so that Laevateinn and Claimh Solais were strapped diagonally across my back, the swords crossed perpendicularly to each other to make an 'X' on my back. Due to Valmanway and Kaladbolg being both one-handed, they were shorter and I was able to strap them to my back so that they were completely hidden behind my back, with the hilts just barely covered by my shoulder blades. With the whole setup on top of the robe and my cape covering all but the hilts of Claimh Solais and Laevateinn, I climbed back down the crates just as Telma opened the door.

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you disappeared to. Where were you?"

"On the roof," I said nonchalantly.

"On the- w-what?" Telma sputtered, "How did you get on the roof?"

"There were some conveniently stacked crates beside the wall."

"Oh. But why would you bother climbing up to the roof anyway?" she asked, obviously confused.

"I don't know, I just felt a bit out of place and I needed to find someplace to think about things. I couldn't go out to the field because I don't have a map and don't want to risk getting lost. Climbing the castle isn't really an option either, though it would probably have been a better place to think."

"Ok then. Moving on now, Link tells me that you happen to be Midna's bodyguard. Are you? 'Cause you really aren't the dumb-muscle type," she said.

"Yes, what of it?" I said, wary now.

"She doesn't exactly look the type who'd need protecting, unless of course you count the random crazy people who have beef with every single foreign person they come across."

"You have no idea, absolutely no idea," I said, barely holding back laughter at the irony.

"Ah well, enough about her! You're probably hungry. Here, I'll get you something to eat." She came back a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of soup. I took it, thanking her, and attacked the soup with the ferocity of suddenly realized hunger. A few minutes later, when I was finished, I reached for the wallet I had made back in the Twilight Realm in my spare time to pay for the soup.

"Hey, no worries! It's on the house," she had said, despite my insisting on me paying for the food.

Having said so, she sent me on my way to the three-person room upstairs that Link and Midna were already in. Having arrived there, I opened the door to find that both Link and Midna were wide-awake and waiting.

"We're going to need some answers," Link said, expressionless.

* * *

**Ganesh295: HAHA! I finally got past the chapter 9 block from my last story! Sorry I didn't write this earlier, but READ AND REVIEW!**

**Michael: Or else...**

**Ganesh295: Michael, Stop it. It's ok to freak other people out but when I'm freaked out, then something is wrong. Reviews are my sustenance! FEED ME! (Sorry if that was overdramatic (^.^))  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ganesh295: Hooray for getting past the Ninth Chapter! That was where I stopped last time. Let's see if I can write a chapter while listening to Daft Punk's 'Harder, better, faster, stronger'!(Kanye West, you must die for copying Daft Punk's song and making your own with it!)**

* * *

_**Chapter 10: Answering Questions and Answering a Call**_

**Michael POV**

"Um…exactly what is it?" I said, somewhat nervous. Was my paranoid side actually right for once?

"Well, you haven't been exactly forthcoming with things," Link said, still using that unnervingly emotionless voice, "We both have reason not to trust you."

"Ok, what do you want to know?" I said, slipping back into a casual tone. The situation has been identified. Type of discussion has been discerned. I was well accustomed to this type of inquiry.

_No._

_This isn't like the other times. No rumors to disprove, no verbal sparring. Just tell them the truth._

Why?

They aren't exactly being friendly about this.

_So? Put yourself in their shoes._

It matters not.

_Why am I acting like this? These people aren't my enemies._

I'm not sure things will stay this way when either you or Midna mentions how you intend to fulfill your objective.

_Shut up! This is how you act with people you despise!_

What right do these people have to know?

They. Have. Every. Right. How else am I going to get them to trust me?

Lead them to the destination. Tell them nothing. What they don't know won't hurt them.

_NO! THIS ISN'T TURNING INTO A GAME OF DECEPTION! YOU AREN'T DOING THIS! I AM MYSELF! I AM NOT AS PARANOID AS YOU ARE!_

Yes you are. I am nothing but part of you. You cannot fight what's in you. You have no choice but to accept me as part of you.

_That doesn't mean that you control me!_

There.

I was myself again. To hell with all this analytical crap, just speak honestly.

"Who are you?" he said.

"I am who I told you I am. My name is Michael. I am also Midna's bodyguard…" I trailed off as a familiar sensation came over me; the feeling of ethereal hands moving over my head, trying to pry open into my secrets. A barely noticeable nod from Midna to Link confirmed my suspicions.

"And you don't give me much reason to trust you either," I finished crossly. Seeing Link's perplexed look, I said, "Oh please. Don't think I don't know that you are attempting to interrogate me. You ask the questions, and Midna pries open my mind like a jar and reaches in for if I'm telling the truth or not. If you're going to expect me to trust you, then you better start trusting me. Translation: No damn mind reading, or you can expect no answers from me. I know how to block mind reading. I don't want to demonstrate," I said, my tone growing more and more angered.

Link and Midna looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and Link said, "Fine. No mind reading. Now tell us. How did you come here?"

"I don't really know. One moment I'm running away from bullies, the next I fall through a portal and find myself in the Chamber of the Sages, the next I pop into your world, and that's where you first saw me."

"What about those swords? You said you had four, didn't you?" he said curiously. The sudden change in tone threw me off balance for a second.

"Well…I had four on me, I have another in a storage space similar to the one Midna uses," I said.

"Hey, how do you know about that?" he said, sounding suspicious again.

"I have my sources." QED.

"Back to the subject; where did you get those swords," he said.

"Don't believe me if you don't want to, but the Goddesses' gave me them. Except for the one in the storage, that one I got from Orlox. Anything else?" I finished dourly.

"It's late, let's turn in."

**No POV**

The next morning, Link was the first to awaken, having gotten used to coming out of sleep on a moment's notice. He got up, rubbed his eyes, then his jaw fell open in surprise.

Midna was still in her bed, next to his, but Michael's was empty.

Link, thinking he'd run for it, decided to find out for himself where Michael had gone. Confident that he would be able to catch up to him on Epona, he washed up, went downstairs, and asked Telma if she'd seen Michael recently.

"Yeah, he came down quite early. Ate breakfast without a word to anyone, then went back upstairs."

"Well, he isn't there anymore."

"Hmm…try checking the roof," she said, after some thinking.

After having his own breakfast, Link went back upstairs, wondering why Telma had given him likely given him information that would likely be useless, he opened the door and his jaw fell open again.

_Try checking the roof._

The window was wide open; it was easily wide enough to accommodate someone like Michael. Link stuck his head out the window to find, sure enough, Michael sitting on the roof with his legs hanging over the side and a carefree air about him. Seeing Link, he shifted to face him.

"G'Morning," he said conversationally, making Link wonder about him. "Is Midna up yet?"

"Yes," said a sleepy voice from behind Link, almost making said hero jump. He turned around to see Midna standing behind him, still bearing the eyes of one who has been recently aroused from a deep and pleasant slumber. He immediately turned away, a slight blush coloring his face, as Michael favored the couple the same jaunty and thoroughly obnoxious smile he had given the half-drunk guard last night. A loud grumble from apparently nowhere made both Link's and Michael's eyebrows pop up.

"It appears that one of us has decided on a great time to make our hunger apparent," Michael said casually, "And it isn't me since I had my breakfast. It probably wasn't Link either seeing as he was downstairs way too long to have just asked Telma where I was."

"How'd you know I asked Telma?" Link said, wary.

"I guessed. It's not like it's that hard to know, you only go to two people for the majority of your information: Telma and Auru. Auru wasn't here last night, so, unless he was on the way back, Telma was the only one you could've gone to for help."

Link was quite awestruck by this display of discernment until he remembered that, as far as he knew, Michael had met neither Telma nor Auru.

"Ugh," Midna said, "Is there any way for either of you two dolts to realize that all of us haven't had breakfast yet?"

"Well no one is stopping you," Michael countered.

So they went back downstairs to the bar, despite the fact that Midna was the only one who hadn't eaten yet, with Michael walking over to the other side of the roof and climbing down the stack of crates in the front.

"What's for breakfast?" the Twili asked as soon as she got to the bar.

At that moment, Michael popped in and said, "How about Link?" and left with immediate haste. There was a short silence in which the seemingly innocent statement sank in, and then there was a short laugh from Telma, as she realized the joke. Both Link and Midna went a very dark shade of scarlet, as they too understood the joke. Michael stuck his head back in to say, "In case anyone wants to see me, I'll be on the Great Bridge of Hylia."

Then he stepped back outside and a few seconds later, there was an explosive report. Startled, Link made his way to the door; opening it, he looked outside to see the alley completely untouched except for a small circle in the center that seemed cleaner than the rest of the area.

"Weird."

**Michael POV**

Once the warp had finished, I looked around for a moment to make sure that the Explosion Teleport had gone well.

_Not bad, considering every other time I used it; I ended up in the wrong area of the Twilight Palace entirely._

Apparently, copying the contents of every single book related to spells, magic, or necromancy on the bookcase in my room back in the Twilight realm had been a good idea. But unnecessary for that particular teleport, seeing as it had been one of my projects for passing time back in the Twilight Realm.

_But enough inner monologue, time to attempt the craziest thing in all of the history of mankind; let's put those wings that came with the Claimh Solais-Kaladbolg transformation to use._

I steeled myself for the transformation before pulling out Claimh Solais and Kaladbolg. The swords melted into my hands and the power flooded through me once again.

_ Control, control. Let's do this._

I opened my eyes, not realizing they'd been closed, and looked down at myself.

_Freaky white sheeting fire: Check. Kaladbolg's hand has black fire: Check. Claimh Solais's hand is glowing: Check. Demon Wings: Way to hit yourself in the face with one, Michael. Check. Nothing out of the ordinary, unless of course you count the fact that a relatively benign six-and-a-half-foot teenager has just transformed into an eight-foot-tall demon._

As I felt muscles I was unaccustomed to having respond to my commands to move my wings, I was suddenly filled with the adrenaline-backed eagerness of someone trying something totally new and untested. I climbed onto the wall that kept people from accidentally falling off and looked down. Bad idea. The unreal drop before me made my head swim and I almost fell off the bridge prematurely. I shook my head to get rid of awful images of me botching the jump and becoming a new color on the islands of the lake.

_Don't think about that; you won't fall on them anyway seeing as you're above water. If you botch the jump, then you'll just make an enormous splash. In your new form, you should be able to easily survive a fall from this height into water; after all, Link survived this fall as a wolf._

Over-cautious side:_ Small difference; Link had the Triforce of Courage, you don't._

Conscious side:_ Good for that. I'm a freaking DEMON! Besides, how hard is it to fly when you have wings that actually work?_

Evel Knievel side: _Enough talk, let's jump already! Today is a good day for an adrenaline rush!_

Conscious side:_ For once I agree with you! Enough inner monologues!_

With this, I took a deep breath and jumped.

* * *

**No POV**

It was a typically boring day for Fyer, current operator of a cross between a houseboat and a cannon, during which he was once again hoping for the patronage of that interesting young man whose apparent obsession with cannons had led to him getting his own.

The cannon that the green-hat-wearing youth had somehow obtained had not only provided another cash flow, it had also been quite interesting for Fyer to fix. After charging the youth 300 rupees to fix the cannon, he had been impressed with the so-called "innards" of the thing. If he had his knowledge down right, then that cannon would potentially send someone going to the heavens.

And so it had.

The cannon shot the boy right up, and he took way too long coming back for him to have not landed on something. Couple that with the fact the cannon practically came to life when the youth had entered it, and you had a potential to sell tickets to go to the heavens themselves.

The problem was, Fyer couldn't find a firing mechanism when he was fixing the thing and he hadn't seen the youth carry one. So that plan was quickly abandoned.

Then he saw…what the…were his semi-old eyes failing him…or was there a demon standing on the Great Bridge?

"The hell…" Fyer muttered to himself. Then the demon jumped off the bridge. It hurtled down the drop, picking up speed. When it was about to hit the water, it opened up two enormous wings and righted itself to just skim over the water.

_Okay, that's it. Everyone out of the pool, friends and neighbors, I have officially blown my wheels!_

The demon was moving so fast that Fyer didn't notice until it was almost too late that it was heading straight for him! Jaw dropping open and eyes widening, he started to move out of the way when the demon tilted its wings slightly and flew right over him. The wind from the demon's flight knocked Fyer off the platform, and he found himself desperately treading water in Lake Hylia.

_Oh great, not again._

He was quickly losing strength, he found himself unable to swim in any direction due to being weighed down by his clothing. He finally stopped treading, exhaustion taking over, when a pair of strong arms pulled him, sputtering, back onto the platform.

As Fyer looked around for his benefactor, he found a soaking wet Auru standing in front of him.

He drew himself up with as much dignity as he could muster in a clown suit and said, "Well old-timer, looks like I owe you one. Again."

"Don't mention it," came the gruff reply.

* * *

**Michael POV**

_WOOHOO! THIS IS AWESOME! THIS SO BEATS FLYING IN AN AIRPLANE!_

The adrenaline rush that came when I jumped had stunned me to the point of almost hitting the water, but it was now replaced by a thrill that almost seemed…intoxicating. Flying is likely to be one of the things that I can never get enough of.

_AHHH! Snap out of it Michael! You're heading straight for the houseboat-cannon-thing!_

I tilted my wings up slightly and shot up sharply, the gust still knocking the man in the clown suit over into the Lake.

_Oh, shit. Nice going, stupid, you have now knocked the guy over into a lake. Good luck with him getting out under his own steam wearing that ridiculous outfit. Maybe Auru will save him again._

As I was thinking this, a small figure that was about to climb up the ladder of the watch-tower suddenly ran and swan-dived off the promontory into the lake and swam to the clown right as he was going under. He hauled Fyer onto the platform before getting up to it himself.

_Mental note: Watch it with the gusts that come from your airspeed, though those could come in handy later._

WATCH OUT FOR THE ROCK WALL!

Turns out, while I was thinking, I once again lapsed in my attention and was heading straight for a rock wall. I shifted my weight and banked away, then decided to get higher and turned the bank into a slow spiral upwards. When I had reached a sufficient height, I flew back toward Hyrule field with no clear destination in mind. I flew around for a minutes when a previous conversation came back to me.

_The castle probably would've been a better place to go think._

Wait, the castle has recently been destroyed.

Crap, that put a damper on my plans.

_Ah well, might as well see if they've made progress._

Turns out that distance isn't too much of a problem when you're flying, so getting to Castle town didn't take too long, when I got there, I kept to what I decided to do and flew over to the ruins of the castle. Apparently the gradual altitude loss that frustrates glider addicts to no end doesn't apply when you have wings that could easily cover you, so I didn't have to flap my wings too much.

To my surprise it appeared that the Castle keep had somehow survived the wrath of Ganondorf. I'm pretty sure that a good portion of the population of Castle town saw me, but I found that I really didn't care. I gradually spiraled upwards to equal the height of the top of the keep, and glided straight towards it. As I drew near the top of the keep, I found myself slightly worried about who might come calling if I landed too noisily.

_Ah what the hell. If someone comes, they'll probably go running from the demon._

With this in mind, I landed on the top of the keep. Thinking about how I was supposed to sit down when I couldn't even fit on the roof, I decided to leave the demon form.

_CLAIMH SOLAIS! KALADBOLG! LEAVE ME! Again._

As my mind uttered this much to the swords, I again felt that strange sensation as the power left me and I resumed my normal form. This time, however, I hadn't come back utterly drained from an exhausting fight with the most skilled warrior the Twilight Realm had to field. So I wasn't completely exhausted after coming out of the form.

I sat down, sheathed the swords, and let my consciousness go back into the recesses of my mind.

Conscious side:_ Ok, Angelic side, Demonic side, have you two stopped arguing yet?_

Angelic side: _No!_

Conscious side: _Well too bad, both of you shut up! Now how am I supposed to go about resurrecting Ganondorf?_

Video-Game Nerd side: _Hey! Listen!_

Conscious side:_ Shut up! I ain't messing around, so if you've nothing to say other than Navi's catchphrase then get the hell out!_

Video-Game Nerd side: _Well, I have a theory. What if we collected items reminiscent of Ganondorf, like his remains? Just like how they did in Castlevania 2: Simon's quest._

Conscious side: _Great idea, except that would also require Link's blood to work it and Ganondorf hasn't been turned to ashes this time._

Book-smart side: _Well, it needn't be his physical remains. Maybe we could get our hands on his worldly possessions? I don't think his sword would be too hard to find._

Conscious side: _Ugh, this isn't working. I don't know where his sword is either._

Orlox:_ You're a Necromancer now, remember. You can simply draw up his energy and vest it into an object._

Conscious side:_ How'd you get here?_

Orlox: _I don't know. It appears that, somehow, my conscious has taken up residence in your mind._

Conscious side: _I presume that this is another side effect of the blood pact's responsibility being transferred to me?_

Orlox:_ Could be. But seeing as no one else defeated me in battle, we might never know._

Conscious side: _Ah, who gives a damn?_

Just then, a feminine voice interrupted my reverie.

"What are you doing here?" it said.

**Unknown POV**

I had just come back from a meeting with the Hyrule Royal council in the Castle's library which had somehow survived the wrath of Ganondorf when a loud _Thunk!_ issued from the floor above me. This really didn't make sense, seeing as my room was the highest in the keep. I shook my head and thought about whether or not to investigate when a voice screamed into my thoughts.

_CLAIMH SOLAIS! KALADBOLG! LEAVE ME! Again._ It said.

_What the…_ I thought to myself, concerned. The power of empathy could really be a pain sometimes. Coupling that with a knack at mind reading that never wanted to turn itself off and you had a constant headache to add on to the annoyance of certain bureaucratic Counsel members who seemed to care more about how many Rupees they could line their pockets with than they did about the people of Hyrule.

I wonder whose thoughts those were though. I'm quite sure that they came from whatever had just landed on my roof. So, focusing my thoughts on the Triforce of Wisdom, I used Farore's Wind to teleport to the top to the of the keep, which was normally my favorite place to just get away from the rest of the world and think.

A strange sight and stranger thoughts met me when I was on the roof. I saw someone who looked to be quite late into the journey of life sitting on the near the edge of the roof, cross-legged, and appeared to be in deep contemplation. I found that I could faintly hear the whisper of his thoughts, which were somewhat troubling.

_Ok, Angelic side, Demonic side, have you two stopped arguing yet?_ Said one voice.

_No! _came the irate reply.

"What are you doing here?" I said, somewhat worried.

No reply came from the sitting man, and I tried to get his attention again.

"I said, 'What are you doing here?'" I repeated.

_Well too bad, both of you shut up! Now how am I supposed to go about resurrecting…?_

Whatever else the voice was going to say was abruptly cut off by a gruff voice speaking in a strange yet vaguely familiar tounge.

_You're a Necromancer now, remember. You can simply draw up his energy and vest it into an object._

_How'd you get here?_ Came the startled reply.

_I don't know. It appears that, somehow, my conscious has taken up residence in your mind._ The other one replied in that strange language.

_I presume that this is another side effect of the blood pact's responsibility being transferred to me?_ came the irked reply.

A blood pact? This person had a blood pact transferred to him? I thought that only happened if…

_Could be. But seeing as no one else defeated me in battle, we might never know._ Came the strange voice, reaffirming my suspicions.

There was a break in the person's thoughts, and I took the opportunity to try and get his attention again.

"For the last time, what are you doing here?" I said forcefully.

This finally shook him out of his contemplation and he started, nearly falling off the edge.

As he abruptly stood up, years fell off his appearance like raindrops. He suddenly looked to be someone of about seventeen or eighteen years of age. He was wearing a hooded robe that was covered in strange symbols and gauntlets with a design that I couldn't distinguish along with a long black cape. He looked at me for one full second, then the color drained from his face.

"Uh…sorry…I'll be going now," he said shakily.

"Where?" I said, an amused smile on my face despite having just discovered an intruder, and a rather bashful one at that.

A blush colored his face bright red and he said, "How do you think I got here?"

"How? Flying?" I said almost playfully.

His eyes widened as he said, "Are you clairvoyant?"

"Yes."

"That would explain a lot." He drew two swords simultaneously, making me unconsciously step back, and closed his eyes.

As I watched, he held the swords up at his sides and they melted into his hands. The hand facing me had been holding a two-handed sword that shone with the harsh light of the sun. The other hand had been holding a one-handed sword that was as black as night. As the swords disappeared, I was able to see the design on the gauntlets.

_The Twili Insignia! But that means…_

Whatever else I was thinking was quickly obliterated from my mind as the robe also melted into him, leaving him in a gray tunic and black leggings. His arms bulged as muscles suddenly seemed to spring up from nowhere and his hands became claw-like. The hand that had been holding the shining sword started glowing a soft white from the inside that seemed to hold a hidden power that still made itself felt. The other hand had gone the other direction entirely, turning midnight black with a hungry black fire with tinges of red burning on it. The rest of him was covered in a strange white fire that seemed to flicker tendrils of itself around him. Then the most frightening change came and two bat-like, muscular wings burst out of his back.

When all this was finished, his eyes opened again and he said, "This is how I got up here. It actually wasn't so hard to get the hang of using these wings."

As I backed away from him, my face a mask of horror, he said, "I know what you're thinking, 'Oh Nayru, he's a demon!' right? Wrong. This is just a transformation that occurs whenever I have those two swords out at the same time and I want it to happen. I'm still myself, and I'm not going to try to eat you. So please stop backing away like I'm about to randomly start destroying everything in my path."

"You associate yourself with the Twilight Realm, judging by the symbol on your gauntlets," I stated, feeling more secure knowing that the change in this person was only corporeal.

"I think I'll let Midna explain that." He was preparing to jump

"Wait! You know Midna?"

Whatever else I was going to say was rendered useless as he jumped right off the tower. As I watched, he spread those enormous wings and was gliding back toward the town.

**Michael POV**

As I flew back towards Castle town, I went over my encounter with the Princess in my mind.

Overcautious side:_ Hey! Wait a minute. How do you know that was Zelda?_

Conscious side: _Let me see… She knows how to use Farore's Wind, she was wearing a pink dress, had the long, flowing brunette hair, gentle brown eyes. Need I go on?_

Overcautious side: _Umm…okay…thank you for being very over descriptive._

Orlox: _Let me guess; One, you think she's beautiful. Two, you are smitten with her. Three, you are under the impression that you have no chance with her because she is a princess and you, up to this point, are nobody._

Conscious side: _When did you become so proficient at reading minds?_

Orlox: _Seriously? And in my assumptions about how you think of her, you are correct about the first two, but dead wrong on the last._

Conscious side: _Umm…Hello? She is the Princess of Hyrule! She has dozens of suitors coming every day! What chance do I stand against them?_

Orlox: _That I cannot answer. However, I sense that the answer will come soon._

Conscious side: _Oh, whatever._

After that monologue, I decided to go on a flyby of Castle town to kill some time. I was heading over the central fountain when a loud commotion reached my ears. I looked down to see a rather large crowd of Hylians gathered in a circle around two individuals, one of them looking very familiar. As I glided lower, I heard a faint chant coming from the crowd.

"Kill the hybrid! Kill the Half-breed! Kill her!" The crowd was shouting.

_Jesus, I am NOT in the mood._

**Midna POV**

Just great. Why do these things always happen?

One minute we're walking along, minding our own business and talking about what we should about Michael, when these three guys walk up to us and blab on about them being holy warriors who hunt and kill half-breeds and mixed-breeds. They keep on talking and talking and then one of them freaks out and says that I look like a hybrid. This ticked me off, so I asked the one who said that if they every considered that they look like complete idiots calling themselves holy warriors who wave around swords without the slightest idea of how to use them.

Haha. Me: 1, Crazy people: 0. Official score!

That seemed to piss them off, cause the next moment two of them are restraining Link and the last one draws a sword. I would've blasted him apart except I didn't want to get both Link and me in trouble. So I opted for using magically enhanced reflexes to move out of the way.

This worked for a while, until a crowd formed a virtually impassable barrier and the other two returned.

"Hold her down!" said one of them. Immediately, the other two grabbed my arms and held them behind my back, rendering me immobile. As I struggled futilely, the first one drew another sword and slowly approached me.

"Can't dance around this anymore, eh. What are you gonna do now?" the same one said, a sick sort of amusement tainting his voice.

Some instinct compelled me to look up, and I saw a black-and-white shape speeding downward towards us.

"I'm not going anything," I said coolly, gesturing upwards with my head, "He is."

The man looked up and all the color drained from his face almost instantly. He dived away as the two people holding my arms did the same.

Then there was a loud _CRACK!_ as Michael landed forcefully on the pavement, sending cracks through the cobblestones like spider webs, in a crouch, his demonic form burning with its hungry blaze. He slowly stood up, his eyes blazing with a previously unknown fury.

"Okay, I am _not_ in the mood for this right now!" he shouted, "I'll give you one chance to leave," then he turned back into his normal self, almost, "Then I'll leave the idiots who stay with three broken bones."

When he left his demon form, only his sword of Light reformed in his hand. He was back to his normal shape now, but his eyes were filled with a roiling darkness so very unlike their normally calm gray.

_They say that a person's eyes mirror of their soul._ The adage came true at this moment, with Michael's angry black eyes reflecting his fury.

"Hah! What's a kid like you going to do to us! You're illusions don't scare us!" the so-called Hunter said foolishly, his initial shock at the "illusion" wearing off.

Michael's mouth twisted up in a grin that stopped the man cold. There was nothing friendly about that grin; there was something like a slow, painful death in it.

**Michael POV**

Ok, these guys are really asking for it, but I found a small problem that could potentially ruin my bravado.

With this much adrenaline coursing through my veins, all my technical knowledge in the self-defense arts was out of recall.

Then a voice called for attention in my mind.

Orlox:_ I can help you; just let me do a little something._

Instantly, I felt a sense of calm despite all the adrenaline flowing through my veins.

Conscious side:_ What did you do?_

Orlox: _My conscious is in you now, right? So I can help you fight, I can give you some part of my skills._

Conscious side: _That part is good enough; I can remember my techniques now._

Orlox: _Hey, you can use some of my abilities too now. Watch._

Suddenly, things seemed to go in slow motion. By now, one of the men decided to throw a punch at me.

_Too easy._

I slipped to the inside of his punch and caught his arm, and spun, using his momentum to send him stumbling forward, where a quickly administered elbow strike to the back of the head took care of him. I heard a cry from behind me, and suddenly an arm was around my neck. Almost smirking, I snaked an arm under his, loosening the arm before using it to throw him over my shoulder. The third one lowered his shoulders and charged at me with the intention of knocking me down. This time I actually smirked, this kind of scenario being the easiest to get out of. Right before he made contact, I spun aside and delivered a sweeping kick to his legs. They fell out from under him and he slid forward a few feet on his face. I had no time to worry about him though, the one I threw over shoulder had gotten back up and was trying to blindside me with a sucker punch.

_Not happening._

I ducked and weaved under the punch and sent a crushing roundhouse kick to his exposed ribs. Now the last guy standing was circling me with a sword in his hand.

_Ok, defense techniques against clubs apply to all normal one-handed weapons. Am I crazy? I'm gonna face off with a guy who has a sword when I have four?_

I stopped circling and let down my guard, the self-styled Hunter took the bait like a fish and charged forward with a yell, sword raised over his head. One of Orlox's tricks came to mind as the dolt ran at me. I focused my magic onto my gauntlets and a near-invisible sheath covered them. As he drew near, he started to bring the sword down. Then I raised my arm and the sword stopped dead. With the sword stopped, the Hunter also ceased his forward motion. He slowly looked up to the sword, still held back by my gauntlet, and then back to me as his face turned into a mask of shock. I smirked, then spun, letting the blade ride down the invisible sheath as I used the momentum from my spin to smash my other elbow straight into his face. The blade fell out of his hand and hit the cracked pavement with a _Clang!_ as he backed away from me, blood pouring out of his broken nose.

"You…I'm gonna kill you!" he said in a strangely muffled voice. Saying so, he rushed at me again.

_Idiot._

Using yet another of Orlox's tricks; I made a flicking gesture with my wrists, but instead of bringing out the concealed blades, it unwrapped the sheaths from my gauntlets and made them form a wall in front of me. Running at full speed, the dolt ran straight into the wall and was out cold before he hit the ground.

I noticed that the crowd around me had long fallen silent, and then they started whispering to each other, they looked at me for a moment and immediately dispersed. A few people wearing the armor of Hylian guards remained, but they fled with a look from me. Holding out my hand, I directed thought for Kaladbolg to leave me, which it promptly did, and I sheathed it. By now, the adrenaline had worn off and I still felt surprisingly calm, considering that I had just beaten three fully-grown men into unconsciousness.

"Pity, I didn't get to use the wrist blades," I said, feigning cold professionalism, "That sure was refreshing though. I was starting to feel a bit rusty in the hand-to-hand combat field."

Midna was just standing there like she was somehow the sole survivor of an artillery barrage. Link, also impressed, opened his mouth to say something when I held up a hand.

"Not now, and preferably not in front of all these people. No one finds out about this, okay?" I said gravely.

"Okay, no idea why you don't want anyone to know though," came the confused reply.

_The warrior is hidden_, I thought to myself, _he lives the shadow of the scholar until such a time comes when he is needed._

One of the oldest sayings related to hand-to-hand fighting when it became an art form. And the one I held in highest respect.

"Because I have no need to show off when I have proven myself in combat."

Midna had finally come out of here paralysis and chose this moment to say, "I don't know about you, but I think that this day has been busy enough."

With these words, we headed back to Telma's bar.

When we arrived, there were some Hylian guards waiting for us. One of them walked up to me and said, "I don't know who you are, but you are under arrest for fighting in a public place unprovoked."

I fixed the faceless helmet of the guard with a stare that might've melted lead into a puddle.

"I am a bodyguard and those people who I fought had threatened the one who I was charged with guarding. Right now, you're pretty close to being in the same category. If you end up in the same category as the men I fought, you will suffer the same fate," I said without humor.

"Are you threatening me?" the guard said, trying to inject the power of authority into his voice.

"No," I said coolly, "I do not stoop to threatening. That was a promise, good night."

I brushed past him and walked upstairs to the room.

**No POV**

As Michael left, there was a kind of shocked silence in the room. This morning, a perfectly cheerful teenager had left the bar with a bang. This evening, that same teenager returning by far more mundane means and carrying the cynicism of adulthood had rebuffed the equivalent of Hylian Law enforcement.

Link and Midna tried and succeeded in leaving without having to be involved in any more trouble.

They all washed up, Link and Midna went downstairs to have dinner, found that the guards had left, and alerted Michael to this before setting down to eat. Having finished this, they all went to bed without a word about the incident.

**Ganesh295: Meh, Looks like I had to use Kanye West's 'Stronger' after all in the process of writing this story.**

**Michael: Read and Review! Seriously, how many times do I have to say that?**

**Ganesh295: And I almost forgot something: Props to Congie for letting me borrow the Hybrid Hunters!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**(A/N: From now on, I will celebrate every chapter I make past Chapter 9 until I get bored of it.)**

_**Chapter 11: A Strange Revelation, a Lack of Training, and…Parkour?**_

**No POV**

The next morning, Link walked back into the room in the inn to find Midna sitting on her bed in deep contemplation and the window wide open, meaning that Michael was likely on sitting on the roof. Link noticed that there was something amiss in the air. It seemed more tense than usual despite the events of last evening, when Michael had the equivalent to a trial by fire.

"Hey, Midna, are you okay?" Link said, sitting down beside her.

"Yeah, I guess," she said gloomily, "I was just thinking about what we are about to attempt. It's not helping much when I remember that if I broke the Twilight Mirror in the first place. I mean, because of that, not only have I ended up hurting you in a way that I never want to again, but I've also dragged a complete outsider into things. Wait, did I say that out loud?"

"Yes," Link said, concerned, "You're concerned about Michael?"

"Yes, he doesn't know what he's getting into…" Midna's voice trailed off, "Wait a minute…Are you jealous?"

Link's eyes widened, as he said, "No! O-of course not!"

Suddenly, Michael's head appeared in the window, upside down, saying, "Link, I am sorry to inform you of this but…" he paused for effect, "You can't lie worth crap! And you've got no reason to be jealous either. Besides, this can't be too bad. All we have to do is somehow fix a magic mirror," he righted himself before climbing in through the window and continuing, "Oh, and another thing, I don't know how to use a sword so…um…well…could you teach me how to use one?" he said, finally succeeding in swallowing his pride.

"Umm…sure," Link said uncertainly, "I'm not sure if I'm the type to be training someone else, though."

"Hey," came the reassuring reply, "The Hero's Shade did a pretty good job of training you, and you're related to him."

"Yeah, good point," Link said, nodding his head, "Hey, wait a minute, how do know about the Hero's Shade?"

"Umm…It's not important how I know, just that I do."

"Yeah, it's important. You know things that you shouldn't, and I'm seriously starting to doubt if you're as clueless in this as you say you are. Especially so since what happened yesterday. You say you've got no fighting skills, yet you took three fully grown men, one of whom was armed, and kicked their asses like it was nothing!" Link stated, under the impression of having finally proved something.

"Correction, I said that I have no idea how to use a sword; I didn't say anything about fighting skills in general. Besides, they were drunk out of their minds, I could tell by their movements. And even if they weren't, I'm proficient in the self-defense arts. Didn't Midna tell you that?" he replied, completely shattering Link's impression of proving something.

"Yes, she did, but she also told me that you haven't practiced in six years."

"Technically, I haven't practiced in six years. In reality, I've gone without practice for three years, but the Goddesses aged me three years."

"Wait, why didn't you tell me about this?" Midna suddenly interrupted.

"Didn't want to burden you with the knowledge. And to hell with this, I ask nicely for training, and I get interrogated! The only thing missing is my being strapped to a chair!"

With that, he climbed back outside, muttering under his breath. Midna turned to Link, worry in her eyes.

"Well, that didn't go well," she said almost mournfully.

"Humph, if I can't get training from a supposed friend, then I guess I'll just have to find my own. Arbiter's ground would make for a good start, though it's the Bulbin Camp near it that I'm more interested in," drifted in through the window. Then there was a loud bang as he teleported.

"Arbiter's ground? 'Though it's the Bulbin Camp near it that I'm more interested in'. What's that supposed to mean?" Link said, confused.

"I think…I think he's saying that he wants to train at the Bulbin Camp, using the Bulbins."

"Is that a good idea?" Link wondered aloud, he'd dealt with Bulbins in the past, but he was a far more seasoned swordsman than Michael. Plus, Michael hadn't fought them before.

"Should we go after him?" Midna asked, catching the look that Link gave her, she quickly added, "I mean, there is a miniature army of Bulbins in that camp, and Michael has no experience, no knowledge, no training…need I go on?"

"Oh, fine," Link said resignedly.

* * *

**Michael POV**

As I materialized in the Mirror Chamber, I looked around for a moment, and then fell to my knees, holding my stomach and feeling like I was going to throw up. My stomach rose, then fell back again without purging itself. I slowly turned my stare on the hand that I was supporting myself on and saw that I had broken out into a cold sweat in a matter of seconds. I felt incredibly light-headed and weak and drained and suddenly I was reduced to being able only to take deep, ragged breaths.

There was another strange feeling, one that I couldn't quite describe, I felt like my entire body was suddenly bloating with like an overfilled balloon. Wondering where this new weight had come from, my gaze drifted around slowly before it fell on the pillars surrounding me. As I looked on, there was a strange, mournful noise, like someone mourning a lost colleague or a close friend; then a group of strange silvery figures came into my view.

They were all identical white figures. Each of them had a strange ethereal glow about them. They all wore identical white robes, the same white masks that looked like the downtrodden faces of bearded old men. As I looked closely, I noticed with a jolt that the robes and the mask were all that were visible; I could see a small empty gap between the masks and the robes amongst all of them. Behind each of the masks, there was nothing but open space.

Then they spoke. They spoke as one. One otherworldly voice. One that filled me with a strange awe; and yet it froze my heart with some sort of feeling that I hadn't experienced. It wasn't terror, but I couldn't tell beyond that.

"What do you seek here, Necromancer?" they said.

Necromancer? Oh right, that book, those lessons, those tests, the self-teaching. All of that knowledge had left its strange scar on me.

Slowly, very slowly, I rose to my feet. As I did, I realized with a shock that these individuals were standing on pillars that had symbols carved on them I was familiar with, yet was unable to summon memories of in my current state of mind.

I shook my head to regain focus, and then looked at the symbols again.

_Wait a minute…these symbols, this arrangement…are you serious?_

"Are…are you the Sages?" I asked, my voice weak, but gaining strength with each passing second.

"Yes, we are. Now answer us, Necromancer. What do you seek here?" they repeated.

I thought about it for a moment, then I answered, "First I wanted training, then I wanted an answer, now I wish for some solitude."

"What do you want to know?" they said.

"What just happened to me?"

"You are a Necromancer, surely you should know what happens when you step into a place where the blood of many has been shed."

"No, I don't. I am new to this, and my teacher is a book."

"That was what happens when your powers come in proximity with the energy remaining in those who are deceased that you raisers of the dead find so palatable. Your powers will alert you to the presence of these energies, and it is not always pleasant."

"I didn't want these powers," I said, slightly disgusted at the realization of the burden of the powers of Necromancy.

"Why did you learn this art if you are so adverse to it?" the Sages asked.

"You should know why. You are the Sages. Don't the Goddesses tell you of these things?"

"So you are the one who they summoned to repair the Mirror," they almost sounded…disappointed.

"What? Am I not what you expected? Were you anticipating some superhuman figure? Some immaculate being? Someone more powerful than an average fourteen-year old who had to be aged three years to fit in? Someone who hasn't had to go through hell in the first few weeks of his involuntary excursion into this world? Is that what you were expecting? Huh? Is it?" I snapped, my now-volatile temper reaching the limit.

"Calm yourself," the Sages said sternly, "We are not ones to judge who the Goddesses chose to do their work."

"Do their work, huh? Well, if I'm bound to do there work, then where, on that celestial contract, is the part WHERE I HAD A GODDAMN CHOICE ABOUT BEING SNATCHED FROM MY HOME! EH? WHERE?" I shouted, painfully reminded of my home and how quickly my life had turned upside down and was toyed with by beings over which I held no sway or even had an opinion about.

"We said calm yourself! You were brought here for a purpose greater than yourself," they repeated in that same stern voice.

"Oh yeah, sure. Like that's supposed to help with being homesick, being totally out of place, and, let's see, being nothing but dead weight! I betting that I can't even protect myself if I were to be separated from Link and Midna."

"You said that the first thing you sought was training. We can help to an extent."

"You can?" I said, suddenly anxious, my anger forgotten instantly.

"Yes, please enjoy the solitude while we decide amongst ourselves who would be to train you."

I sat there for a few minutes bored by the still-morning sun.

"The Sage of Shadow has apparently taken a bit of an interest in you and would like to supervise your training."

_Sage of Shadow? Oh yeah, Impa._

One of the figures floated down from the pedestals to stand in front of me. As the figure did so, it transformed into a more familiar one; the figure of the first Zelda's bodyguard, Impa.

"And before you ask, I took charge of training you because I thought I would be the best one to do so, taking into consideration your Twilian armor," she said in the precise, no-nonsense tones of a seasoned bodyguard.

"Do you mean Twilian as in coming from the Twili? Or do you mean it as a title that this armor is referred to by?" I asked.

"Actually in both manners, seeing as that armor has some special properties. Haven't you wondered why your robe is covered in so many symbols?"

"Yeah, I forgot about it though."

"Well, each of those has a purpose. That one symbol on your chest that looks a lot like the Sheikah eye is an Eye of Truth seal. You can use it to substitute for a Lens of Truth."

"Cool."

"I guess. There's also that symbol on your right shoulder that looks like a kite shield. That one will notify you if your services are needed by your charge. Did you know that the armor actually reforms itself to match its user's preferences?"

"Well that would explain why the robe fit me perfectly when I first found it."

"Please. Despite its appearance, that 'robe' is actually quite competent as armor."

"How so?"

"The sword glyph on your left shoulder; touch it."

I reached over to my left shoulder and touched the symbol that looked like a sword. Instantly, my arm gained a considerable amount weight and it became hard for me to hold up. I touched the glyph again and the extra weight disappeared.

"What was that?" I said.

"Obsidian plates covering your gauntlets. I see that you'll have to get used to the extra weight," Impa said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, that might take a while," I said, trying to bring some feeling back into my arm.

Orlox: _Why do I feel so lonely all of a sudden?_

"Oh would you be quiet, Orlox," I said, annoyed.

"Orlox?" Impa said inquisitively.

"Yeah. Did I say that out loud?" I said worriedly.

"Do you know Orlox?" she said.

"I used to, and he was not a nice person in life. Now he's a better one. I guess the fact that he doesn't hate me anymore has to with the responsibility of his blood pact, and along with it his consciousness, being transferred to me. He even let me keep his sword."

"You what? You have his sword! But to have obtained that then…you killed Orlox?"

"That's the ironic part. He was killed by a falling pillar, but that pillar was broken by me absorbing his magic attacks into one giant bolt of magic that knocked out the base of the pillar and sent it down on him. It's even more ironic because he was trying to kill me by throwing so much power at me so as to overload my ability to soak up the magical energy."

"He went easy on you. He has one attack that no one has ever been able survive. I wonder why he didn't use it."

"Because it didn't work. I blocked it."

"What?" Impa's eyes widening ever so slightly, "That shouldn't possible!"

Orlox:_ Should you show her, or should I?_

Conscious side: _Be my guest. I don't think she'll believe me unless I show her the demonic form and I'd rather avoid that._

Orlox: _Fine, then take the sword out._

"It is. But, hey, don't take my word for it; take his," I said, holding out my hand and muttering the incantation. The storm of Twilight Particles came and went, and I was holding the sword in one hand.

Big mistake.

I quickly had to grab the hilt with the other hand as it slipped from my grip.

"Is that actually his sword?" Impa asked. If I hadn't known better, then I would've thought that she was in awe of the damn thing.

"Yeah, it can't transform anymore, but Orlox told me that that problem could be fixed if I took it to the tribe's Wise One. I assumed that he was referring to you, as you are a Sage."

"Yes, I can renew the enchantment on the sword. It will take time though. May I have the sword?"

"Be my guest, this thing is heavier than the obsidian plates," I said as I handed her Orlox's sword.

"Just so you know, you are going to be put through rather intense training and conditioning. Are you ready?" she said, taking the enormous blade and making it disappear in a burst of Twilight Particles.

Ah, the good old trick question. They tried this one when the Junior Black Belt class graduated to black belt rank.

No one was stupid enough to say 'No'.

"Let's get started."

* * *

**No POV**

As Link and Midna raced across the desert, regretting that there wasn't a warp point that was closer to the Bulbin Camp than the one in the Gerudo Mesa, they couldn't stop moving without seeing images of a dead Michael inside their heads. Cursing the desert heat that kept him from moving quickly without worrying about dehydration, Link kept trudging through the endless sands of the Gerudo Desert toward the Bulbin Camp.

"You do know that we could just warp to Arbiter's ground and make our way through the temple?" Midna said, safe inside Link's shadow.

"We can't get past the room where we faced Stallord, Zant destroyed the bridge, remember? I now hate that asshole even more than I used to; even though he's already dead," came the gruff reply. He knew that Midna was merely looking for a quicker route, one that wouldn't require water skins and a few days, but he couldn't help feeling slightly irritated at her almost solicitous **(A/N: "Solicitous" means showing concern for. Incase you're wondering.) **attitude toward Michael.

After a while, the Bulbin Camp finally came into view. There was still a rudimentary archway made of wood for an entrance, but the Peahat hovering around the entrance provided a shortcut. After clawshotting onto the Peahat, waiting for it to pass over the entrance, and letting go to drop down on the other side. Link looked around to see that the entrance was more or less unguarded. He found it strange but let it pass, there being more pressing matters for him to pay attention to.

As the couple approached the actual camp, they heard the familiar war cries of Bulbins. It sounded like the green-skinned goblins were going crazy over there. They hastened their pace, thinking that they might be too late. As they neared the camp, the loudest war cry of all broke out; Link's eyes widened and he broke into a full-out sprint.

So close.

So very close.

He was at the entrance of the actual, mazelike camp when a burning figure flew across Link's field of vision. Link heard a gasp from his own shadow, and Midna reformed herself from his shadow. She appeared first as Link's shadow molded into her shape, then regained color and Link's shadow flooded back to him. Midna took a moment to ready her magic and they both went in.

Link followed the path of the burning figure, as he neared it, he found himself bewildered at its appearance.

_Hey, wait a minute. Michael isn't short, doesn't have green skin, long arms, or an oval like face. Holy crap, that's a Bulbin! But, if that's a Bulbin, then where's Michael?_

No sooner had these thought gone through his head did he hear the loud war cry of a Bulbin that had snuck up on Link. The creature's bludgeon was already falling toward Link when a flaming sword suddenly appeared in the space between its ribs.

The Bulbin's carnival mask-like face slowly turned downwards to the sword as it left the Bulbin, leaving a cauterized hole in its wake. Then it fell down, dead.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, "What's up? I think I might've stirred them up into a bit of a frenzy."

"Michael! I said that we were training you with the wrist blades! You are allowed to channel magic through the blades but you are forbidden from using any of your other weapons!" a stern voice said.

"Sorry, Impa, but Laevateinn was the only one that could reach the Bulbin before it hit Link," came the sheepish reply.

"That's still no excuse to…wait. Did you say Link?"

"Yeah, he's right here."

"Oh. Ok, I can tolerate making an exception for that reason. But you seriously need to remember to pay attention to your surroundings."

"What the- Oh!" Michael exclaimed as he turned around, then immediately rolled to the side as a cudgel fell into the space where he was standing. He then rushed at the Bulbin, flicking his wrists before striking it in the chest with both of his palms, and then moving on to another Bulbin as that one fell down, dead before it hit the ground.

"What the…Did you just kill it by punching it?" I asked after he finished with the second one by performing an identical strike to its heart.

"As much as I'd like to take bragging rights for doing that, no," he said, turning to face me. He flicked his wrists and, with a quiet _shink!_, a nine-inch blade made of black metal with odd designs on it slipped out from underneath each wrist.

"This explain things for you?" he said, clenching his fists and making the blades disappear into their hidden sheaths.

"I guess, but what are you doing here?" Link said still confused by the whole business of the Bulbin camp being lain waste to. Again.

Suddenly, a symbol started to glow on his right shoulder. As Link watched, the glyph took the form of a kite shield.

"Oh great. I wonder what she got herself into this time," he said before touching the rune and disappearing.

"What the hell," Link said, before drawing his sword and shield and tracking another exceptionally loud shout by Bulbins some distance away. Cutting a wide swath through the swarm of Bulbins, he made his way to the area.

* * *

Michael rematerialized to see the Twilight Princess finishing up with a few Bulbin raiders that had made the mistake of pitting themselves against her and found himself wondering why the shield glyph had gone off.

"Hmm, not bad, Michael," a very familiar voice said.

"Wild goose chase, Impa?" Michael said.

"Just about," came the amused reply.

"Uh, why are you here?" Midna shouted over the sounds of battle, noticing Michael's sudden appearance.

"Impa chose a fine time to test both my reflexes and knowledge of the armor's capabilities," Michael shouted back.

Just then, Link, covered in splotches of sickish-green Bulbin blood, burst into the secure area.

"I don't know about you, but this gets tiring after a while," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"You do know that I'm only using a fraction of my potential power, right?" Michael shouted.

"What do you mean?" Midna shouted back.

"I'm a partially a Necromancer, I can draw energy from the dead. Think about how many Bulbins we've killed," he paused for a moment to cut another Bulbin's jugular vein with his wrist blades, "Get the idea?"

"Ok, that's enough for today. Tomorrow, we can work on your acrobatic skill. And despite what you may think, acrobatics can be quite useful when used correctly in combat," the voice of Impa barked.

"Ok, I'll be right up," Michael said, turning to us, he continued, "Oh and by the way, the whole I'm-sleeping-in-the-middle-of-the-desert thing is part of my conditioning. So you can go back to the inn," having said this, he closed his eyes and exploded into Twilight Particles. The Particles floated idly for a moment and then compacted themselves into a ball, which compressed itself until it was the size of Madam Fanadi's Crystal Ball, then it "exploded" with a loud bang.

"And that's supposed to be the Explosion Teleport?" Link said incredulously.

"It's supposed to be the flashier type of warping. No doubt he's learned a more efficient one," Midna replied, then yawned. "Well, fighting that miniature army of Bulbins was rather tiring. Let's go back to the inn."

"Are you s-" the Hero was about to say when he broke into Twilight Particles.

* * *

The next day, Michael was up early and was practicing his martial arts moves to see where he could use the wrist blades to augment his attacks. The first obvious one was a barrage of palm strikes to the torso which, when in conjunction with the wrist blades, would put so many holes in an opponent that they would be dead before they realized what hit them. As he went the palm strike barrage followed by a few quick elbow strikes, he was about to try what he would do if a person came up behind him by spinning around and bringing a closed-fist backhand strike with the hand on the same side as the last elbow speeding down on the imaginary opponent's skull. As he spun around to administer the strike, he saw Impa standing behind him. Stopping the strike, he turned around fully to face her when he noticed the faint ghost of a smile on her face.

"Well, it definitely seems that you are competent in unarmed combat, but that's not what we are here for. Let's get to the acrobatics," she said, all business again.

* * *

**Michael POV**

Normally, acrobatics would be something that would take me awhile to get used to; but Impa had this strange way of 'unlocking' parts of my mind that I didn't know existed. This would give me a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and experience about the subject at hand, all that was left was to actually perform the abilities shown in those memories to synch my current self with those abilities. For some strange reason, it reminds me of the 'bleeding effect' from Assassins Creed. In that particular game series, the protagonist is able to gain the abilities of his ancestors through a bleed-over of that ancestor's skills.

Having finished the process of the unlocking another portion of my mind, I felt the memories of yet another forebear weigh in on my mind. I struggled for a few moments to force them into their proper place. After I was finished, I nodded to Impa, who nodded back and prepared a warp. When we had reformed, I looked around to see that we were standing at the entrance of Castle Town.

"Castle town? Why here?" I said, confused.

"The predecessor whose memories I unlocked appears to have preferred to practice his art in urban areas.

My eyes widened as I realized what that meant.

_Parkour. The French art of bypassing any obstacle in your path by manipulating the distribution of momentum in order to perform seemingly impossible movements._

Parkour was amazing to watch, and even more so to perform. The grace, the speed of it was so very breathtaking…it just…it was indescribable. I had some slight skill in it, and had always where I had gotten that natural ability.

Well, now I have the answer.

"I will be observing you from afar as you go through the run. I expect you to do certain things during the synchronization of your ancestor's memories. One of those things will be to find the tallest point that you feel safe ascending and to scale it, another will be using the skill to outrun pursuit, and it would be a good test to see if you can outrun your pursuit by moving to places that they can't get to," she said, then smiled to herself, "I can already see that you will enjoy this. Go on, let's see what you can do!"

I bounced around on the balls of my feet for a second, gathering myself, and then breaking out into a fast jog.

There were some guards hanging around the front gate, talking among themselves, looking very much in the need for some action.

And I was quite happy to oblige.

"Hey, guards!" I shouted hoping to get their attention, "How 'bout we have less sitting around doing nothing, if you can get off your lazy asses that is!" I taunted, laughing as, with a great cry, they set off after me, knocking aside everyone in their way while I slipped past everyone.

I got through to the central area of Castle Town where the huge fountain stood in the center right as the Hylian guards who I'd incited into chasing me stumbled through the crowd.

"Hey," I said tauntingly, "I was wondering when you were gonna catch up. Almost seemed like you all weren't gonna make it this far. Well, see ya!"

With another great cry they took after me with the passionate fervor of a Republic posse from a spaghetti western, only with nowhere near the speed of one.

I set off running full speed down one of the alleyways, my pursuers making great but largely ineffectual haste after me. I noticed a very familiar set of large double door as I neared the Western gate.

_Ah, good old Dr. Borville. Time to give the deadbeat something of a buzz._

With these thoughts, I slammed through the door, went into the stall with the bunk bed and the balcony door on it. Without stopping, I ran toward the wall, planted my foot on it, and transformed my forward momentum into the upward momentum I needed to grab onto and climb up the top bunk, from where I dashed out the door. With the sounds of the guards struggling to catch up, I came out to where the balcony was only a short distance from the roof, jumped up and grasped the roof before pulling myself up.

As I stopped to catch my breath, the guards managed to get up the ladder of and onto the balcony. They looked all around, not seeing me until I shouted down at them.

"Hey, guys! Up here!" I said.

The exhilaration from this chase was really starting to get to me, as well as the consciousness of the ancestor whose memories Impa unlocked. I started to run again as they grabbed onto the roofing shingles and struggled to pull themselves up, due to the fact that they were wearing steel chain mail.

"Hey boys!" I said to them loudly, "Might want to get rid of that armor if you want to try to chase me! Or it could be that someone's been having too much chicken!" I laughed as I said that last part. I heard a collective growl as my goading set in motion the sounds of heavy weights hitting the floor and a bunch of Hylian guards climbing up onto the roof, their heavy plate armor discarded for lighter and more flexible chain mail shirts.

"Ah, about time," I said before setting off. The first gap between the roofs appeared and I leaped over it without hesitation, not having to worry about my swords weighing me down due to me storing them before I got started with this.

The consciousness of my ancestor weighed in, guiding me through a roll as soon as the balls of my feet hit the roof that allowed me to keep going without losing any momentum.

I kept going, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, when my exhaustion caught up with me and I was forced to stop moving and double over, panting and covered in sweat, to catch my breath again.

_This might not work so well if parkour is so tiring. Wait a minute, what about using Kaladbolg? Last time I used its power, I could literally feel an indefatigable source of energy flowing through me._

With this in my head, I focused on the black sword in my mind and held my hand out just as a swarm of Twilight Particles formed into the dark blade. I willed its power to bind to me and watched as it melded into my arm. Instantly, my tiredness disappeared and I felt completely refreshed.

_Let's get going again._

The exhilaration was wearing off now and I soon got bored of free running on the rooftop level. I headed for Telma's Bar, sweat coming off me like bullets. Arriving there, I planted a hand on the roofing as I dropped down to the crates stacked beside the door and jumped the rest of the way to the ground, rolling as I landed to reduce the impact.

I immediately started running through the busy streets again, thinking about how to get over the doors that led to the Castle Courtyard. As I racked my brains for some method of scaling the wall, I remembered the kinetic energy I'd used to get that pillar off the dead Orlox.

_If I can harness that ability to manipulate kinetic energy to augment my jumping abilities, then I could probably clear that wall._

With this in mind, I ran toward the entrance to the castle. As I approached, the two guards lowered their spears at me, saying, "Halt!"

_Oh don't worry; I have no intention of trying to go _through_ your cordon._

Running at the nearest wall at a forty-five degree angle, I leapt, loosing a burst of kinetic energy to jump halfway up the wall, then loosing another as I kicked off it to propel myself from the wall and over the gate, the guards staring up at me as I did so.

As I started to fall back down to earth, I realized that jumping so high had been a bad idea, then some strange instinct prompted me to loose a less powerful burst of energy in the direction opposite of the one I was falling in so as to soften the landing enough that I could roll forward upon landing to completely negate the force of impact.

The ruins of the main Castle were a perfect place to practice the harder tricks, but my destination was a more intact one: the Castle keep. I had decided that I was going to scale it.

Dash vaulting **(A/N: Dash Vaulting is when you leap feet first over a short obstacle and use both hands to propel yourself forward after clearing the obstacle.)** and speed vaulting **(A/N: Speed Vault is planting one hand on a short obstacle and using that to right yourself as you jump sideways over the obstacle.)** over the various pieces of rubble strewn around the place, I noticed that some rooms of the Castle had survived the destruction of the rest of it. There was also scaffolding strewn here and there as though the rebuilding work had already been started, and indeed it had. Certain parts of the ground floor of the castle showed signs of being recently built.

As I worked my way toward the keep, it became obvious that I wouldn't have the energy required to scale the enormous structure. Right as I was thinking this, I heard the voice of Impa.

"Ok, that's enough for today," she said, and I noticed that the evening sun was painting the sky blood red. "I think that you've gotten used to the movements of parkour by now."

"Agreed," I said, letting Kaladbolg reform in my hand and putting it back in the Twili storage pocket, the exhaustion hitting me like a highballing linebacker.

Impa appeared beside me as I doubled over, gasping for breath, and warped us to the Mirror Chamber. After, I finished catching my breath, I drew myself up to see Impa standing there.

"Tomorrow, I will teach you some rudimentary sword techniques before I let you go back. I will also have finished replenishing the enchantment on Orlox's blade by then. For now, rest," she said before disappearing.

Michael decided to follow her advice and do just that, having gotten used to sleeping on rough surface like sand by now.

* * *

**Ganesh295: Yes, I realize that that probably wasn't my best chapter, but I promise to make up for it in the next one! Please review! Why do I have to keep reminding you?**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12: Training, Tenets, and a Major Life Lesson…among other things**_

**Michael POV**

"Stance!" Impa drilled.

I shifted my right foot behind my left, shoulder width apart, bent my knees, balanced my weight on the balls of my feet, and moved my right hand to the hilt of Laevateinn. This all occurred in less than a second.

"Draw!" she said.

I started to unsheathe Laevateinn when there was a flash of steel and Impa's Kodachi dagger was at my neck.

"Too slow. Don't start with a weapon that takes that long to draw unless you can create space between you and your opponent."

Nodding to show acknowledgement, I readied myself for her next command, when, without warning, she lunged at me, bringing the kodachi across in a slash from a reversed grip.

Caught unprepared, I found the shortened katana at my throat once more as Impa shook her head in disappointment.

"Lesson one: Expect the unexpected and be ready for anything," she recited before retreating back to her original distance.

"Stance!" she shouted suddenly. As I went through the motions, she suddenly lunged at me again, stabbing straight towards me with her blade.

Thinking quickly, I reached for the hilt of Valmanway and drew it in a motion to block the strike, even though my blade was behind my back. An afterimage of Valmanway appeared at an angle to parry the strike by Impa's sword, marking the start of another one of the frequent sparring sessions I'd been subject to today.

Impa rained blow after blow after blow on me as I worked Valmanway furiously to block or parry each one. At the same time, my other hand was working its way over to Kaladbolg. When it came in contact with Kaladbolg, the dark energy contained in the sword gave something of a shock as the blade slid out of its sheath and into the battle.

With two swords in hand, I was able to hold my ground as Impa showered more attacks on me. The flow of her attacks gradually slowing down, I finally was able to leave the defensive and become a bit more aggressive in my blocking, starting to use more and more parries in an attempt to initiate a counterattack to stop her barrage. However, she was still moving too fast for me to be able to find a gap in her defenses. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and I was completely blinded.

_Deku Nuts? How the hell did she get Deku Nuts? We're in the middle of the desert for crying out loud!_

Knowing that she would use this to disorient me while she teleported to another angle of attack, I crouched, stuck one leg out, and pivoted full circle on the other foot.

As expected, my foot struck something solid and I heard a cry of surprise as a muffled thump signified a body hitting the ground. The flash was finally clearing from my eyes and I opened them to see Impa getting up from the kick to the leg, which had likely taken her completely unaware.

"Hmm…not bad…unorthodox, but not bad…" she said to herself.

I relaxed for a moment, and then realized that she hadn't said that we were finished and immediately loosed a burst of kinetic energy to create distance between us right as she lunged for me again. As I landed, she was speedily closing the distance, bringing the kodachi across in another reverse grip slash. There was something in her body language that suggested that she was employing a different strategy, however, and I decided that I wanted to end the competition now. Raising Valmanway, I made an afterimage appear directly in Impa's path, which she rolled under; however, in doing so, she telegraphed to me where here next location would be and, as she came out of the roll, stabbing straight at me, I sidestepped at the last moment and had Kaladbolg at the back of Impa's neck before she could recover.

She apparently noticed this as she immediately sheathed the kodachi and got up.

"Well done, you finally got me," she said, "I think it's about time that I gave this back to you." She raised her hand, and a storm of Twilight Particles bunched together to form a very familiar six-foot-tall blade.

As she held it out to me and I took it, she said, "The blade's enchantment has been refreshed, try it out."

"Umm…How?" I said, staring at the enormous sword.

Orlox: _Hey, Michael, it's good to see ya again._

Conscious side: _Yeah, sure, how do I transform this thing?_

Orlox: _I think a mental command should work just fine._

Conscious side: _Are you okay? You don't sound like your normal self?_

Orlox:_ Well of course I wouldn't sound like my normal self by your standards. By your standards, I'm a raving maniac who has never lost a fight in his life until very recently._

Conscious side: _Good point._

Focusing on the blade in my hand, I shut my eyes imagined myself holding a spear instead of an enormous blade; I felt the blade lose substance for a moment, then solidify as I opened my eyes to see a long, black spear in my hand, covered with very familiar runes.

"It worked," I said disbelievingly, yet with a smile on my face as I imagined the many possibilities with this new weapon.

"Hmm…The possibilities with this weapon are just about endless, if its power is as you say it is," Impa said with a shadow of a sad smile, "Well, go on now. You can go back to your friends now."

"See ya later! Thanks for the training!" I said, focusing my mind on a quieter type of warp than the Explosive Teleport, then breaking apart into Twilight Particles.

**No POV**

While Michael had been training with Impa, Midna had managed to persuaded Link to teach her how to use a sword, even showing Link a sword that she'd created during the few weeks in the Twilight Palace before coming back to the Light Realm for so that Link wouldn't have to worry about the 'Having a sword in the first place' problem.

The sword she'd made was a result of experimenting with the specific properties of Twilight Particles and how she could manipulate them to form specific objects. It hadn't been easy, for sure, to craft a well-made sword from practically nothing; but judging by how impressed Link had looked when he first saw the sword, it had definitely been worth the time, effort, and enormous amounts of magical energy required to bend the needed amount of Twilight Particles to form it.

Both Link and Midna were surprised to find that Midna had something of an aptitude for swordplay and, by the time Michael had made his parkour run through Castle Town, Midna had mastered all the attacks one could perform with a sword as well as learning how to augment her ability by using her magic in conjunction with her sword to continuously confuse and frustrate Link to no end when they sparred; mainly by using her magic to teleport in circles around Link and attack when he wasn't aware of it, usually succeeding in landing what would've been a mortal blow if they had actually been fighting, and ending the sparring match with her as the victor.

The two swords that Michael had wielded during the arena fight, Laevateinn and Valmanway, had inspired the sword she created. Like Valmanway, Midna's sword could create two more copies of itself at once. Like Laevateinn, Midna could make the sword without it being physically in her hand. However, the sword couldn't create more than two copies of itself at once and the copies were always a certain distance away from each other, whereas Michael seemed to be able to move his blade copies however he wanted to. Her blade couldn't wield itself without her instruction either, whereas Michael's Laevateinn seemed to be completely autonomous when he wanted it to wield itself.

When Michael had left the Sage of Shadow to meet up with Link and Midna once again to discuss his plan to fix the Twilight Mirror, the couple was finishing up another round of sparring when, suddenly, there was a loud bang and Michael appeared out of seemingly nowhere. They immediately stopped and turned to Michael as one.

"So," Michael said, almost timidly, "What did I miss?"

The tense silence that followed was soon broken by Midna.

"Where the hell were you? Those drunk, wannabe holy warriors who attacked me not long after we arrived in Castle town have tried to kill me at least five times already!" she shouted, looking, for the most part, quite harried. Michael audibly gulped and loosened the ties on his robe nervously, looking quite mortified.

"Are you serious? Because I didn't feel anything on the shield glyph for these past few weeks," he said full of a sudden dread due to his mind choosing a fine time to remind him of what Midna had said happened to the last bodyguard who had bailed out on his duties.

"Nope, I'm just messing with you," Midna said, her harried look replaced by a mischievously triumphant one, "And you fell for it!"

Michael, however, had gone the opposite route; his mortified look replaced by one of morbid annoyance.

By now, Midna was laughing hysterically and even Link let a snigger get past.

"I see you've been training with Link," Michael said; something in his tone sending a slight chill through Link, "Anything else happen between you two?"

Now it was Michael's turn to laugh, as Midna blushed redder than Michael would've believed possible, with Link looking between the two, completely oblivious as to why Midna had traded roles with Michael.

"I am _so_ going to get you for that," Midna pronounced coldly, drawing herself up to her full height and pointing the sword in her hand at Michael.

"Eh, ah well. It's not like another round of sparring is going to kill me," he said calmly.

"You don't know that for sure," Midna declared, settling into a comfortable fighting stance.

Michael still hadn't drawn his sword yet though, and Midna, despite how much she wanted to get him back for that comment, was stayed by her reluctance to attack him when he was unarmed.

"Oh come on and take your vengeance already," Michael said, still without a sword in hand.

That spurred Midna into action and she teleported behind Michael with a strike that would've chopped Michael's head off had he remained standing; however, he wasn't standing anymore, he had ducked when he saw Midna disappear, and swept one leg full circle as he did so. As expected, his leg contacted with Midna's feet with enough speed to sweep them out from under her and before her mind could understand what had happened, she was lying flat on her back.

"Too easy," Michael taunted, by now a safe distance away, "Impa tried the same trick on me, except she temporarily blinded me first, and I didn't fall for it that time either."

This goaded the already angered Midna back into the battle. Using a levitation spell to quickly get up, she practically flew toward Michael, feigning a sword swing at him, she passed him before turning and launching a shadow ball that wouldn't hurt him, but would send him flying a bit.

Michael, caught unprepared by the feint, got hit full-on by the shadow ball and went flying back a bit before landing flat on his back and springing up again.

"Ok, that is completely unfair!" he complained.

"Oh shut up and take it, why don't you! You're likely to end up fighting someone who uses magic sooner or later, so why not suffer the humiliation of being beaten by one when the defeat won't cost you anything but your pride!" Midna shot back, charging some wind magic on her blade before charging at him again.

In a flash, Kaladbolg was in Michael's hand and he blocked the strike, seemingly unaffected by the wind magic on the blade. Midna looked down at the blade surprised to see that the wind spell had been unleashed, but had not affected Michael.

"Surprised? Don't be!" Michael goaded. Midna growled slightly and charged more wind magic before adding in some shadow magic into the blade. She then swung the blade toward Michael, unleashing the wind energy and assuming that he had absorbed the previous wind attack and would block this attack with it, which would result in him augmenting the wind attack due the shadow magic that she had mixed in absorbing Michael's counter.

As expected, when the shadow-enhanced wind spell shot towards Michael, he held out his hand and threw Midna's own wind spell back at the new attack. As expected, the wind magic that Michael shot was absorbed by the spell, which then formed a shadow-augmented wind fist. Unexpectedly, Michael's expression of surprise only lasted for a second. He held hand out to catch the fist when it made contact, grabbed hold of it, and was about to throw it back when it exploded in his hands, sending him flying back a few feet.

"Lesson one: Don't overestimate yourself," Midna recited, "Oh and seeing as this may result in a long list of lessons, please refer to me as 'Professor,'" she finished, laughing as she said the last part. Michael, however, was completely still. It was then that Midna realized that he would've gone quite a bit further if a large boulder hadn't put an immediate stop to his flight.

Midna's look of triumph changed to one of horror as she, along with Link, ran over to the rock that Midna had mistakenly flung him into. As they got nearer, they noticed a red substance splattered all over the rock where Michael's head had hit it.

"Oh, Goddesses, is he dead?" Midna said, her tone marred with terror. As they tried to remove Michael's head from the rock, a large pink something fell out of the back of it, accompanied by a small shower of blood.

"I…I killed him," Midna said, her voice small, "Oh Goddesses I killed him!" Her face had arranged itself in a way that Link never wanted to see again, her eyes full of tears that hadn't fallen. She suddenly went into a hysterical fit of crying.

Link, his heart broken at the sight, wrapped one arm and then the other around Midna and pulled her into a tight embrace, trying to comfort her.

Through Midna's loud sobs, he suddenly heard a voice saying, "Holy crap! It actually worked! I'm starting to think that I kinda went a bit overboard with the whole 'brains-falling-out-of-the-back-of-my-skull' thing, though," the very familiar voice said.

"Midna. Midna!" Link said, shaking her slightly, "I don't think he's dead."

"What do you mean? His brains are lying on the ground right now!" she shrilled.

"Look on top of the boulder," he said simply, his face suddenly gaining the look of one who is highly ticked off.

Midna turned her tear-stricken gaze where he'd directed and, sure enough, there was Michael, sitting on top of the boulder. Midna's jaw fell open and her eyes showed her great relief right before it turned into blazing fury.

"Did you enjoy the Doppelganger?" he said, a look of amusement crossing his face.

"Why, by the deities, did you do that?" she screamed.

"Put it this way, the feelings between you and Link are mutual. I'll leave it to you to find out what that means," he said, indicating the couple.

Midna looked at him, then at Link, then at the fact that Link was embracing her, then at the fact that she was returning the gesture, and then it clicked.

"Well, to avoid being torn into tiny pieces in a very brutal manner, I'm going back to the bar. See ya there!" Michael said, before disappearing with the customary bang.

"I swear, when I get my hands on him…" Midna growled under her breath.

"What does he mean by that?" Link said, interrupting Midna's wistful fantasies of revenge.

"Nothing," she lied. _No use admitting my feelings now, especially so with all those rumors about Link and Zelda. Emphasis on the 'and'._

"Well…um…you wanna go back to the bar?" he said, suddenly conscious of the physical contact between them and moving away.

"Ok, I'm so gonna kill him when we get back there…" she said, sighing, suddenly feeling quite tired. With a moment of concentration, she warped them directly to their room in the inn.

**Michael POV**

To be perfectly truthful, I had no intention of going back to the bar yet; instead, my warp left me at the spire-topped roof of the Hyrule Castle keep. Why I came here, I don't know. Only that I wanted some solitude, some peace and quiet, something I wouldn't likely be able to obtain with my companions, especially after that trick I'd played on Midna. Playing to someone's emotions is one of those high-risk-high-reward type things.

Romance geek side: _But it worked didn't it?_

Conscious side:_ I don't know, to be honest, you got any ideas, Orlox?_

Orlox:_ My field of expertise is cutting down whoever stands in my way, not romance._

Conscious side: _Hey, you had a kid, didn't you? So you should have some ideas on romance._

Orlox:_ Not on how to put together a couple like this one._

Conscious side:_ You're a warrior aren't you? On a basic level, you are no different from Link._

Orlox:_ Correction, I am nowhere near as oblivious as the Hero is. And my wife wasn't nearly as fiery-tempered as the Princess is._

Conscious side: _Good point._

Orlox: _Why do I have the feeling that you are going to say that a lot?_

Conscious side: _'Cause you're probably right._

Optimist side: _Why do you always put yourself down?_

Conscious side: _Oh would you just shut the hell up! I need a bit of peace and quiet and this is what I get! Arrgh!_

Just then, I heard a voice through the open window near where I was sitting.

"Yes, Councilor Remirez? What is this time?" the calm voice of who I assumed to be Zelda said.

"I am here to inform you that the Royal Council's deadline for finding a suitor is fast approaching; if you are unable to find one by that time, we will be forced to choose one for you," said the voice of who I presumed to be Councilor Remirez. I didn't like his voice; there was something…off about it…it just filled me with a sudden chill that I couldn't describe. Nor did I want to, for that matter.

"We? I think you mean _you_ will be forced to choose. Or should I say that you would be happy to choose?" the princess stated coldly.

"Your Highness, do you mean to say that I would attempt to subvert the Council against you? This is quite the accusation, I must say," the Councilor said, practically gutting out the word 'Highness'.

Deciding to intervene, mostly due to the fact that this guy was pissing me off and I _really_ wanted to make him piss himself, I called up my repertoire of vocal overlays that I could use to change my voice, and then got a better idea.

_Oh yes, this is gonna be great!_

I pulled the hood completely over my head, pulled the robe close around me, and summoned Orlox's blade with a very specific weapon in mind. As the sword melted into its new shape, I couldn't help but think the same thing, over and over again.

_This is gonna be friggin' hilarious._

**No POV**

"Princess, I'm not sure you understand the stakes of your decision. You've rejected how many suitors now?"

"Twenty, one of them being that complete snob from Orthos," Zelda said, slight amusement creeping into her voice at the mention of how much she had ended up humiliating him, just because of one wrong move. _Ok, seriously, living in Midna for so long has really rubbed off on me._ Zelda had unfortunately found that she was correct about the personality of her Twilian counterpart rubbing off on her. Nowadays, anytime one of the suitors crossed the line between being first (and rather bitter) acquaintances and making early advances on her, she could find at least twenty different ways to completely and utterly break the unfortunate fool's heart and a faint regret that she couldn't try all of them.

"Now, now, don't be too harsh. He simply made one mistake," Remirez said.

Zelda laughed, "Yes, that mistake being the bet he made that he could outmatch me in archery," now fully reminded of the extreme amount of embarrassment she had handed out to the snobbish and how she could practically see the black storm cloud drifting over his head as he left, looking very sullen.

"Nevertheless, he was quite possibly the best candidate for marriage," Remirez countered.

"Marriage? With that snobbish, overconfident excuse for a prince? Have you finally lost your mind?" Zelda almost screeched, something very unlike her.

"You don't have any other choice, unless you can find a suitor within the next two days. And if I remember correctly, there are no suitors coming within the next two days. So, either name one, or else-" that's as far as the Councilor got before a black figure appeared from nowhere with a loud bang.

"Or else what, Remirez?" the figure said in a deep, ominous, and overall grave voice. He was tall, around six-and-a-half feet in height. The black robe the stranger was wearing was covered with outlandish symbols, including a large glyph on his chest that looked vaguely familiar to the princess. The robe covered the stranger completely, and had a hood which hid his face. The most frightening feature about him, though, was the length of naked, black metal he carried. It looked to be a long staff made entirely of a strange, black, rune-covered metal and was taller than him. But on top of the staff was what made the thing terrifying; it was a curved length of the same metal the staff was made of, wide at the base and narrowing down the curve to the gleaming tip.

It was a scythe.

"H-h-h-how do you know my name?" the Councilor stuttered like the nervous, wide-eyed, and innocent serving boys he had often jested about.

"I know everything about you," the figure replied in that grave voice.

"W-w-w-who are you? H-h-h-how dare you intrude on a private manner! I-I-I-I-I-I-I'll have the guards get rid of you!" he stuttered, so out of his element now, having gone from intimidating a princess who he felt could do nothing to him to being confronted by a tall, dark, and overall very intimidating figure. He was one who was acquainted with the role of the intimidat_or_, not that of the intimidat_ee_. **(A/N: By the way, that basically means that the douche is more used to intimidating and totally naïve in the matter of being intimidated)**

"Your petty excuses for guards will not see me," the figure replied coldly.

"W-w-w-what do you mean?" Remirez said, still stuttering.

"It is not them I came for," he somehow became quite a bit taller and drew himself up to his full, awesome height. **(A/N: Awesome as in grand, not awesome as in that old euphemism for 'Cool'. I swear that word has changed in form so many times I can't even remember them all, and I read dictionaries for fun!)**

"I came for you! I am your end! Your time has come!" the figure boomed, raising his scythe and advancing towards Remirez.

The Councilor immediately made great haste to leave, ran face-first into the door, tried to open it desperately, not realizing he had locked it until the figure was nearly upon him, and practically flew down the stairs.

As Zelda watched all this, waiting with bated breath, she wondered what would happen to her for all of one moment. Then the figure burst out into helpless gales of laughter, dropping the scythe. The hood fell off to reveal that it was Michael, laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face.

"H-h-h-he, he actually f-f-f-f-fell for it!" Michael said, still laughing.

After a while, he finally stopped laughing and drew himself up with as much dignity he could muster.

"We meet again, Princess," he said simply.

"Who are you anyway?" Zelda asked, confused by this turn of events.

"The name's Michael."

"Nice to finally know who you actually are," she said, curious as to why it seemed like Michael was very close to blushing.

"Nice to meet you too, now I must be off," he said before he picked up the scythe and disappeared with a loud bang.

"Wait, why did you-" she started to say before he disappeared.

**Michael POV**

As soon as I teleported back onto the roof of the Castle keep, my scythe reforming in to the more familiar great sword, I was able to keep a straight face for all of one moment before I burst out into hysterical fits of laughter again.

Overcautious side: _Hey, Michael, Shut up already! You'll have half the town up early._

Conscious side:_ Sorry, that was…just…too funny! Hahahahahahah!_

Comedian side: _True dat! An' you ain't ever gonna forget it! EVER!_

Overdramatic side:_ Wasn't that a bit overdramatic?_

Conscious side:_ Do you see my metaphorical face? This is me staring at you and unable to believe that you just said that!_

Overdramatic side:_ Why?_

Conscious side: _Cause you're my friggin overdramatic side! You are supposed to friggin _live_ for this kind of stuff! … Friggin hell!_

Comedian side: _Ok, seriously, that was actually a pretty good setup. For a moment, I thought that you'd chosen a really awkward time to start cosplaying Castlevania's Death._

Conscious side: _Technically, that's exactly what I did…_

Angelic side: _That was a mean trick! That's what that was!_

Demonic side:_ Oh would you shut it! That guy deserved it!_

Conscious side:_ I ain't even gettin' warmed up yet._

Orlox: _Finally! More ass kicking!_

Conscious side: _What the hell? Having you been hanging around with my I-read-dictionaries-for-fun side?_

Orlox: _Yup._

Conscious side: _Shit._

Comedian side:_ Agreed, it's bad enough with one bookworm who has way too much free time._

Conscious side: _So, nothing else?_

Orlox: _Admit it. You like her._

Conscious side: _Why do I have to admit it? And since when did you pick up my bookworm side's clairvoyance?_

Orlox:_ Clairvoyance? It's rather obvious isn't it? Especially with the cliché blushing-whenever-you-are-within-close-proximity-of-her._

Conscious side: _Oh fine, ya got me, I like her. But didn't we already have this discussion?_

Orlox:_ Not exactly, the talking was mostly one-sided. It's usually considered a discussion when you're talking about it with someone other than yourself._

Conscious side:_ What! Are you saying that I should talk about it with Link or Midna? Link is too oblivious to understand and suggest something useful. And Midna is more likely to embarrass me to no end about it, knowing her rather playful personality. Or at least I think it's playful._

Orlox: _Speaking of which, shouldn't you be getting back to the inn before one of them tries to hunt you down. And you know for a fact that only Midna and Zelda can get up here, 'cause Link can't climb up here._

Conscious side:_ How long did you spend playing around in my mind?_

Orlox: _Too long, my former foe, too long._

"Why are you still here?" said a somewhat recognizable voice.

Conscious side: _Shit, I've over stayed my welcome it appears._

"Sorry 'bout that, see ya," I said quickly before triggering the customary Explosion teleport.

**Midna POV**

"Where is he?" Link said for the umpteenth time, pacing back and forth across the room.

I said nothing, still simmering over Michael's trick.

"A more pressing question though, is what he meant by 'the feelings between you two are mutual'." Link said, still pressing the question, as he had been the whole day.

"N-nothing," I lied again, before going back to that moment between us -Michael, I am still going to kill you for doing that to me- that moment in which I felt secure for the first time in a long while and, almost wistfully, remembering all those nights I had slept beside him during our journey. It had been as that ugly imp back then, yet I felt a faint sense of longing for those times where it was just us, together against the world. Oblivious or not, I still like him, but I still didn't feel that the time was right to tell him.

_ Or maybe more subtle tactics are in order._ _Why not? Heck, I might even be able to ask Michael about this. He knows so much about us already, made apparent at his numerous hints that Link still hasn't caught. And I know for a fact that Michael will help if it has a chance of getting him back in my good books._

But another part of my mind screamed:

_Oh, for the love of Nayru, why the hell are you dancing around this like a pompous noble at a ball? Just tell him and take what comes, goddammit! At least that way you'll be sure. And don't blow up at him, or blow him up for that matter, if it turns out he didn't notice all the hints you threw at him! Just don't do that! Because if you did well… Wouldn't it be perfectly ironic if it turned out that he loved you too, only for both of us to break up over a fight caused by me losing it at his obliviousness?_

Then the first part replied:

_Fine, I'll tell him. And I'll try not to kill him if it turns out that he didn't notice. Emphasis on the word 'try'. But now is not the time. Especially if Michael's plan to resurrect Ganondorf fails on the 'controlling' phase of the plan. If it works though, then I'll go right ahead when Ganondorf is back to being dead._

The second part of my mind replied:

_No! You are still dancing around it! Why do you keep doing this! Just tell him goddammit!_

The first part of me shot back:

_No way, now is not the time!_

The second part:

_If you keep up that mindset, then you'll never tell him! It'll always be 'not the time'!_

I was about to listen to the second part of my mind and finally tell him how I felt and take whatever came next. However, a little bastard called Fate decided to get in the way.

Just then, Michael appeared with a loud bang, forcing me to stop my train of thought for worry that he would have a way to figure that out too.

"Where the hell have you been?" Link and I said simultaneously, then we looked at each other in concert with each other, blushed simultaneously, and looked away at Michael at the exact same time to see that he had that same obnoxious smirk that said he knew something we didn't plastered on top of his normal smile.

"Well, it's a little something like this," he said, sounding for the most part like a teenager who is trying to explain blatantly breaking his curfew for the sake of staying at a party. "I wanted some peace and quiet, so I warped to the top of the Castle keep. After a while of thinking to myself, I heard some voices coming from under the roof, which is where Zelda's room is, presumably," he started to spin his tale, telling us of the ultimatum of Councilor Remirez, who for some reason reminded me of Councilor Andovar in some disgusting manner, maybe it was the ultimatum, then continued on to Zelda's refrain, which had me concerned because normally she _never_ raised her voice, and then stopped for a moment, a barely contained laugh practically painted all over his face in bright red paint. As we waited with bated breath, he recounted the trick he played on the Councilor.

There was a silence for all of one moment, then we all burst out laughing hysterically, trying to imagine how the Councilor must have looked when Michael masqueraded as the Grim Reaper, then failing to do so because the image was too funny. After a while we finally gained mastery over ourselves again, when we asked what had happened next, his reply was simple.

"After successfully robbing the douche of his sleep for the next few weeks, I immediately warped back here," he said, though his words sounded a bit forced.

"I have a feeling that I will have a hard time not reminding him, tomorrow," I said, feeling that old impish smile cross my face.

"Eh? What do you mean by that?" Michael said, looking confused.

"While you were gone, we were discussing what we should do," Link explained, "We decided that we should probably visit Zelda and ask her if she knows anything about fixing the Mirror."

"Oh," Michael said simply. Then he yawned mightily, "I'm going to get some sleep, preferably right now. I don't know about you, but masquerading as Death really takes a lot out of me."

He got about three steps before he collapsed in a messy heap.

"Um…I'm not even gonna ask," Link said.

"Good," I shot back, "The world is a nicer place when you don't."

I focused for a moment, and a giant, flame-orange, fluorescent hand made from my hair shot out to pick up Michael and place him rather gently on his bed.

"Why do I feel like-" was about as far as Link got before the same hair hand grabbed Link roughly and stuffed him into his bed.

"Seriously, how anti-climatic. And why do I have the feeling that this isn't the last time that I'm going to be doing that to Link," I said before lying back into my bed, pulling the covers over me and blowing out the lantern, plunging the whole room into a darkness broken only by the soft moonlight shining through a window.

Then everything turned black as sleep claimed me like it had my other two companions.

* * *

**Ganesh295: Read and Review! PLEASE! Review and Chuck Norris will come to your house and give you a cookie. Don't review and Chuck Norris will come to your house and roudhouse kick you.**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13: A meeting, and a Solution to a Douchebag's Ultimatum**_

**No POV**

The next morning, Midna woke up to find that apparently she had been the last to wake, as Michael's and Link's beds were both empty.

"What the…" she whispered to herself.

She washed up and went downstairs to see Link eating breakfast in an almost empty bar, and Michael nowhere to be seen.

She yawned and stretched out a slight bit, drawing Link's eyes to her and bringing an impish smile to her face.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Midna said.

"You were tired," Link replied, going back to his breakfast.

"So? Where's Michael anyway?" she said, sitting down to eat with him.

"I dunno, he wasn't around when I woke up."

"Huh, some bodyguard."

"Agreed."

"So are you? Or should I?"

"No. You would be lucky not to break anything in the process of hunting him down. He can disappear when he wants to."

"Nevertheless-"

"No," Midna stated firmly, sounding like a parent scolding a child for making an outrageous demand. She had finished her breakfast by now, and was getting up to leave, when she could've sworn that Link had just winked at Telma, and that Telma had returned the gesture.

_Odd._

_

* * *

_But it was out of my mind the moment I walked out the door.

Back inside the bar, Link finished up his breakfast, then shimmered as if behind a heat haze. Then, with a few quiet words to himself, Link dissolved and Michael was left in his place.

"Impressive," Telma said, "If I hadn't seen you sit down and turn into Link, then I wouldn't have ever guessed."

"Are you sure that was a good way to set them up, though?" Michael said nervously, hoping that he would be able to escape the wrath of his employer once she discovered the trick.

"Nothing we can do about it now," she said, "But I'm pretty sure they'll be fine."

* * *

By now, Midna had found Michael's route onto to the roof and was bypassing it completely in favor of levitating onto the roof only to almost fall back down due to losing her concentration.

There was someone on top of the roof all right, but it wasn't Michael.

"Can you help me get down?" he said, looking rather embarrassed.

"Hmm…How about saying 'please'," Midna said, a coy smile on her face.

The Hero sighed, then said, "Fine. Could you _please_ help me get down?" with an agonized look on his face.

"Sure," Midna said before summoning the hair-hand to grab Link before floating back down to ground level and depositing Link unceremoniously on the cobblestones.

"Ow!" Link exclaimed, getting up slowly.

"Oh stop being such a baby, you've survived worse," she said, that impish smile still on her face.

"Ugh, fine. Didn't we plan to see Zelda today?" Link said, a slight pout on his face from being treated so roughly.

"Good point. And get that look off your face, it isn't helping your case any," she lied, even though she couldn't help but pity him regardless.

Suddenly remembering something, she said, "Oh yeah, I forgot something. I have a bodyguard to tear into a bunch of tiny pieces."

Link shuddered a bit, thinking that there was something seriously wrong with either Michael, for playing all these tricks, or with Midna, for acting completely psychotic in reaction to them, and found that he couldn't decide who's problem it was.

Midna burst into the bar, intending to catch Michael unprepared for a brutal but non-lethal assault, to find Michel's spot empty. She rushed into the room that they had in Telma's Inn for an untold number of days now to find it empty as well. The only thing out of place was the open window.

_Michael, you always take the one escape route that I can't chase you down on don't you?_

Just then, Link walked in cautiously, expecting signs of very recent bloodshed; then he noticed Midna standing by the open window.

"Again?" he asked simply.

"Again," she answered just as simply.

"Wanna go to see Zelda anyway?" Link asked tentatively.

"Why not? We already found out whatever we need to know from Michael, so it doesn't make any difference whether he comes or not."

**Michael POV**

As Link and Midna were making their way towards the Castle on street level, I was heading the same way, only instead of weaving my way through busy, crowded streets of Castle town, I was running from rooftop to rooftop on my way to Hyrule Castle.

The new perspective didn't make the city any less lively, however, as the sounds of the Marketplace came to my ears: the sounds of a Hylian haggling with a Goron to get a better price on Hot Spring water, the shouts of old acquaintances, old friends, shoppers, the squeal of a recently purchased bouquet being presented to a loved one, the sounds of satisfaction of one's hunger drifting from the bakery, the loud cries of contagious excitement as the recent patrons of a store chain created by a small child who looked baby-like yet thought with a ruthless demeanor more befitting of an adult drooled over the insanely low prices (_Didn't know that was possible but, what the hell._).

As I made my way to the Castle, I suddenly heard a desperate cry for help.

_What the hell?_

Pulling out Kaladbolg to heighten my senses, I was able to pinpoint the source of the commotion to a small corner hidden from view by the S.T.A.R. tent.

As I ran along the crest of the wall above the commotion I heard panicked voices.

"P-p-p-please! Leave me be! I have a wife and two children waiting for me to return home!" the old man blurted out, faced with the spears of a group of very familiar guards.

"Yeah. And you still haven't paid us back for protecting you from that turf jumper a couple of weeks ago," one of the guards said, gesturing with the spear.

_Ah, so those guards I led on the wild goose chase all those weeks ago choose this fine time to turn a profit from their embarrassment. How unfortunate._

_ For them._

"Why hello, numbnuts," I pronounced, jumping down from the stone wall a few feet from them, "Remember me?"

"Yeah, we remember you. So what are you gonna do now, eh?" one of them said, his bravado clouding his judgment, "Three of us against one of you!"

"I should very well think not," I said, drawing Laevateinn and letting it float, awaiting my command to attack.

"Three of you against me and a floating sword! How does that help your case any?" the same guard shouted.

_Idiots._

Not feeling like wasting the time to beat up anyone, I drew Claimh Solais and Kaladbolg at the same time. There was a rush of power that I tamed easily, having become used to doing so over these past few weeks, and I was once again looking like an eight-foot-tall demon.

One phrase came to mind that seemed quite effective.

"For your sake and mine," I said slowly, "Piss off."

The three soldiers looked at each other, then at me, and then they looked once more at each other before screaming and running away so fast they left their spears behind.

I bade the swords' power to leave me so I could return to my normal form, and soon I was holding Claimh Solais and Kaladbolg in my hands again.

_Ok. Let's get going, I've wasted enough time here._

I grabbed Laevateinn, sheathed it along with my other two swords, and made all of them disappear into Twilight storage. Then, thinking for a moment, I loosed a blast of kinetic energy underneath me to set me going back to rooftop level.

_Now. Let's get going to Hyrule Castle._

**Midna POV**

As we approached the Castle, I saw a shadow pass over us and looked up to see a black shape jumping across a gap between the roofs of the buildings that bordered the crowded alley we were trying to get through.

_Well, looks like someone's in a hurry to get around,_ I thought, wondering whether he was eager to meet Zelda or just anxious to get away from me before I ripped him to pieces.

When we finally past to the first set of enormous double doors that led into the Castle, we had taken no more than five steps when that same black, cloaked shape dropped down from the battlements.

"Hi," it said cheerfully, "What kept ya?"

"Oh, well, I'm _so_ sorry that we couldn't keep up with someone who doesn't have to bother with crowded alleyways and random guys who wouldn't stop staring at me," I said, sarcasm metaphorically dripping from my voice.

Michael's pupils dilated for a moment, and I imagined that he was likely seeing me torturing some random pervert with a flaming inferno.

"Exactly," I said, making my tone sound as dangerous as possible, watching with a modicum of satisfaction as he paled.

He immediately looked straight ahead at the partly rebuilt Hyrule Castle, his pace quickened.

As we approached the Princess's door, we heard a voice from coming from the door.

"Hmmm…What to do? The Council, or more of Remirez, would have me marry that odious Prince from Orthos. But there are no more suitors coming within the deadline. Hmmm…What to do?" said the ponderous voice of Zelda.

Hearing this, I decided that we'd eavesdropped for long enough and I knocked on the door.

"Come in," said the now glum voice from within.

As we entered, Zelda's face immediately brightened as she said, "Hello, Link, Midna. And to whom do I owe this surprise?"

My voice in a no-nonsense tone, I said, "Oh come on, we know that you have that asshole of a Councilor breathing down your neck with a deadline, to put it politely."

"Ok, you got me there," Zelda said, glumness creeping back into her voice, "What did you come here to talk about anyway? I would be correct to assume that this isn't a normal social visit."

"You would be correct, and can't you do anything about him?" I said, worried for my friend.

"Not unless I find evidence of any illegal activities perpetrated by him, at which point the influence that he seems to hold over the other Councilors will disappear due to him being in thrown prison for a good long while," Zelda said, "But it's too much to hope for. I have very good reason to suspect him of illegal activities, but he is_ very_ good at covering up. The only way I could hope to find anything would be to break into his mansion and find some incriminating documents before he has time to get rid of them as he would on an official visit."

"A break-in? That's all we would need to find something that would get him locked up?" I said disbelievingly, "Then why hasn't anyone tried yet?"

Zelda looked up, "Two reasons. Reason number one: Break-in. It isn't exactly legal, you know. Reason number two: He has hired mercenaries all over his mansion. Without either some supernatural powers, or some of Link's equipment, it would be impossible to get in."

She thought over things for a minute, then said, "Of course, we could buy some time if I choose, or at least act as if I'm choosing, a suitor; it could hold them off temporarily." She seemed to think about it some more, then said, "Yes, I see how this could work…I could name a suitor, which would hold them off until we can obtain some sort of proof of Remirez's illegal activities, and if we're going to do this then I might as well give them a name that they wouldn't be able to refuse."

"What a minute, is this going where I think it is?" I said, sudden comprehension sweeping through my mind.

Ignoring me, my Light World counterpart turned to Link and said, "Link, would you help me and act as though I have chosen you for my husband?"

_WHAT!_ _NO! YOU ARE NOT AGREEING TO THIS!_

But then a small and very malicious voice in my mind said:

_Oh yes he is agreeing to this. Why shouldn't he? He likes her._

But the majority of my mind had a fitting reply in stock:

_That's what the gossips say! And if the gossips around here have the same credibility as the gossips back in the Twilight Realm, which would be next to none, then the chances of them being right would be something beyond caring ab-_

My mind got that far before I heard Link say: "Umm…Well…If it helps you…I guess I can."

At that moment, a large black Gyorg swallowed my brain.

"Did I seriously hear you say yes? Fine, I get it. Good riddance, Link," I said without thinking about it.

"Midna, wha-" Link was about to say when I interrupted.

"You know very well what! And guess what! I don't need your help to fix the Mirror! Got that! You want to know something else! Michael's original plan to rebuild the Mirror only required his powers and mine! So you can stay here and discuss _your_ little marriage with _your_ Princess!" I ranted, still not thinking.

"Hey!" Michael said, "Don't drag me into this!"

I turned to him my eyes blazing with a furious inferno which almost immediately went out when I saw the look on his face. It was a mixture between anger, envy, and hurt that was likely manufactured to garner pity. It was quite effective at doing just that.

"Please, I just don't want to be involved in this," he said, his voice almost sounding fearful.

Then the blazing inferno returned for round two.

"Fine! Side with him why don't you!" I said, storming out of the room.

**No POV**

"Oh great," Michael said bitterly, "Just great. Who wants to try to calm Midna down? It would be nice if the volunteer wouldn't get blasted to pieces in the process."

"Maybe she just needs some time to herself," Link said, confused by what had just transpired. There wasn't going to be an actual marriage, it was just to buy some time. And yet, it almost seemed as if Midna was…jealous.

"I think it'll take a bit more than that to fix things," Zelda said, "I'll go talk to her."

"Umm…How do you know tha-," was about as far as Michael got before Zelda skewered him with her gaze.

"Sorry…my bad…" he said, his voice small all of a sudden.

"So. It's settled, I'll go and talk to Midna," Zelda said calmly, as though nothing had happened, "Link, you go to the manor and see if you can find anything," she turned to Michael, "You are staying away from there, it's too dangerous for you to get involved."

"Hey," Michael protested, "I am not weak!"

Zelda didn't even look at him, "You are going to stay here, out of trouble."

"I beg your pardon, your Highness, but no I'm not," he retorted.

"I beg _your _pardon, but you are staying here," Zelda said in a tone that indicated she was finished with the discussion.

**Link POV**

And so, with a mark on my map indicating the location of the noble's manor, I bade farewell to the Zelda and Michael, who was now trapped inside a Nayru's Love crystal, and set off to the place at the foot of Snowpeak. When I reached the manor, I immediately saw that Zelda wasn't kidding about the guards. There were soldiers _everywhere_, all fully armed and armored. Each of them had a look that was as clear a warning as any that they wouldn't hesitate to kill any intruders.

I was standing in a valley through which a narrow path had been carved to the manor, with guards patrolling the entire length of it on horseback, with sheer slopes on either side of me.

As I thought about a way to get through, I noticed a dead tree on a plateau that looked like it might extend to the manor. Better still, it seemed that Remirez hadn't thought about setting up guards there.

_Perfect._

The tree looked sturdy enough to clawshot onto, so I pulled out said piece of equipment and sighted on the tree with it before triggering the Clawshot. As the claw obtained a solid grip on the tree, a second mechanism in the device pulled me toward it quickly. As soon as my feet hit the ground beside the tree, I ducked behind a rock ledge bordering the plateau; worried that the Clawshot's noise would alert the guards to my presence in this silent vale.

There were no shouts of alarm, no horns blowing, and no alarms of any kind.

_Perfect._

But then a small part of my mind offered its opinion:

_How do you know that they haven't noticed you yet? They could just be waiting for you with an ambush._

_Shut up_, said another part of my mind.

I ran along the plateau in a crouch, thankful for the rock partition that allowed hid me as I made my way across.

Then I saw a sight that stopped my progress cold.

_Shit, I knew it would've been too much to hope for to assume that there were no guards along this conveniently placed plateau._

There was a mercenary in light chain mail holding a longbow sighted on the path along the valley floor a few feet in front of me.

Thinking of how to take care of him, I opted to knock him out, not wanting to resort to bloodshed at this point. With this plan in mind, I slowly crept up on him, intending to take him out with a pommel strike to the Mercenary's head. As I neared the bowman, he suddenly snorted and fell forward, dropping his bow and freezing me in place.

The bowman then shook himself and picked up the longbow before sighting again on the narrow path. All of sudden, he turned to face me very slowly, surprise painted all over his face.

_Shit._

I immediately brought my sword and shield to bear, thought for a moment, and then rammed my shield into the bowman's face, breaking his nose and knocking him out cold.

Fortunately, there were no more bowmen along the ridge, rather stupid of him in my opinion.

_Now let's get back to sneaking around._

**Zelda POV**

**(A/N: First time doing something like this, so let me know if I mess it up)**

Leaving a very annoyed looking Michael trapped in a Nayru's Love crystal in my room, I decided that my Twilight counterpart's initial anger had cooled off enough for Midna to be in a reasonable mood and looked for her so I could explain the whole 'Link-acts-like-my-suitor-not-really' act.

Knowing that she wouldn't be hot-blooded enough to leave the castle for the sake of avoiding me, I guessed that Midna would try to find somewhere she could think.

Then I remembered a better way to find Midna; I could simply trace her unique magical energy. It wasn't too hard seeing as Twili have totally different magical "auras", as the form in which magic energy manifests itself, from the few Hylians who have managed to retain their arcane ability.

My search ended up taking me to a balcony in the recently rebuilt second floor of the Castle. There, I found Midna leaning on the marble railing of the balcony, looking out over the town and apparently deep in thought. As I approached her, my shoes tapping on the marble floor, she turned around briefly, before seeing that it was me and going back to facing the city.

"Hello," I said, wishing to be the one to initiate the communication.

"Hello, Zelda," she said bitterly, "Shouldn't you be planning the reception at your wedding with the Hero?"

"Midna, that was just for the sake of buying time for Link to find something," I said.

"Just Link?" Midna asked.

"Don't you think it's a bit dangerous for Michael to go?" I asked tentatively.

"Dangerous?" she said, as though she found the thought amusing, "You underestimate him greatly."

"Underestimate him?" I said, eyebrows raised, "He is so potent?"

"No, it is not a matter of potency yet. It sometimes seems like he is the manifestation of the saying 'Appearances can be deceiving'," she said.

"So his powers are of the type that catch people totally unprepared?" I asked, suddenly worried about how well the Nayru's Love was holding up.

"I guess, but it is also the matter of the amount of raw, untamed power that he can wield," Midna replied.

"But in any case, back to the subject at hand," I said wishing to stop before we got side-tracked, "The fact remains that Link acting as though he is going to be my husband is merely a show, an act, just something to buy time. Of course," I continued, my tone turning somewhat coy, "If you don't mind, I think Link would make a good husband, seeing as he is a good frien-," was about as far as I got before my ruse worked.

"WHAT? I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE ONLY…" Midna's shout trailed off into silence as she caught on.

"One would think you have feelings for him, wouldn't they?" I said, unable to stop keep a triumphant smile off my face.

"Well, actually, she dropped quite a few hints over the course of their journey," a new, yet quite familiar, voice said. We turned to see Michael striding down the marble hallway to the balcony.

"How did you get out of the Nayru's Love crystal?" I said, shocked.

Michael shook his head, "Nope, the thing is wearing off but it isn't entirely gone yet. I just sent an Illusion down," the apparition said.

"Since when did he learn illusionary magic?" I asked turning to my Twilight counterpart.

"That was the first magical art he learned," she replied, looking somewhat amused.

"But anyway, back to the topic, again," the specter Michael said, "We now know for a proven fact that you have feelings for Link. So why not tell him?"

"The time isn't right," Midna said mechanically.

"Keep up that mentality and you'll never tell him," he responded, his voice surprisingly cold.

"What do you know?" Midna said suddenly.

Michael's countenance remained unchanged, but I felt a small ripple of hurt through my power of empathy.

"You know what?" Michael said, his voice emotionless, "You're right. How would I know? I'm not some psychic. I don't have Zelda's power of empathy. It's quite simple how I know. You do too. You know it." He looked around for a brief moment, then said, "Ah, what does it matter now? I'm gonna go see how Link is doing. Might come back, might not. Who cares? But anyway, I'm off. Those Nayru's Love spells don't last forever you know."

My mind flashed with realization and I warped back to my room immediately.

Too late.

The room was empty, no sign he had ever been there, except for a strange black book on my bed.

_What the…?_

**Link POV**

After taking care of the archer, I found no more complications on my path to the manor.

Getting in the manor itself, however, was a totally different story.

The front set of double doors had two guards on either side of it, so there was no getting past that way. Every so often they would turn their heads to check for anyone trying to sneak around them, but, for the most part, they kept their gaze fixed on the road in front of them. Following the guard's gaze, I spotted an open window on the ground floor, but there was a guard looking out the window, his head covered in a full helm with a face guard.

_Oh great. How do I get past him? Pull him out the window?_

Wait a minute, that actually seemed like a good idea. If I could get one clawshot to latch on to the guard's helmet and use the other to pull myself to the wall behind him…

_Not bad._

I took out both Clawshots, aiming one at the guard's helmet's visor, and aiming the other at the wall behind him. Hoping that this would work, I loosed one Clawshot straight towards the guard. As the claw flew toward the mercenary, I could imagine the look of surprise that would come over his face at the surreal sight of a claw attached to a long chain flying straight at him. Then the claw latched on to his helmet's visor and the retracting action of the Clawshot plucked him straight out of the window.

"Nice shot, Link," said a voice from behind me, almost making me cry out in surprise.

"Michael? Where the hell did you come from?" I said, surprised, "And why did you sneak up on me like that? You almost got us killed!" seeing his confused expression, I indicated the guards. He looked at them, and then nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Sorry about that," he said.

"How did you get over here anyway? I thought you were trapped inside a Nayru's Love crystal," I inquired, remembering the sapphire blue crystal that he had been kept inside when I left.

"Turns out those things don't last forever. Well, that and Zelda was a bit slow to refresh the spell," he said.

"Enough talk," I said, remembering the crucial timing required for getting past that guard at the window and the fact we had wasted too much time talking while the guard who I'd pulled out the window was found by the other guards.

"We need to get in, get whatever we're looking for, and get back," I said quickly, "Hang on," I refocused the Clawshot on the wall inside the window and grabbed Michael before triggering the device, pulling us both to the wall at high speed.

Fortunately, Michael had let go a split second before we reached our destination so he wouldn't crush me when we collided with the wall.

We quickly hid behind opposing statues as a guard strode past, then Michael pulled out a black one-handed sword and held it for a moment, completely still, then he turned to me and signaled for both of us to move.

We moved as fast as we could while crouching, with Michael stopping before each corner and either telling us to hide behind conveniently placed statues or suits of armor. Soon we arrived in a room filled wall to wall with paintings of women in…revealing, to say the least…outfits.

"Can you say, sicko?" Michael whispered to me, disgusted.

"Understatement," I whispered back, equally sickened.

In the next room, however, we found something of much more interest. Or more of some_one_.

"Are you sure that she won't be getting anymore visits from suitors?" one voice said, this one rather haughty.

"Nope," said another, cold and calculating, "There are no more suitors due, and I doubt she'll be able to find one, considering how she likes to find out everything she can about each one. When she finds herself unable to find one, the naïve, young princess will really have no other choice than to accept the Council's help. And that, my prince, is where you come in," I didn't know this one, but judging by how Michael was gritting his teeth, he probably did.

"You know him?" I whispered.

"Yup," he replied, "That's the douchebag himself, Councilor Remirez."

"Are you sure that this will work?" the haughtier of the two voices said, making a sound like a piece of paper being shaken out.

"Is this treaty not enough? It already has all the required signatures," said the voice of who I assumed to be Remirez.

"What about the ruler? There is a spot for the Ruler's signature," said the voice of who I presumed to be the prince

"Technically, that will be you as soon as the marriage takes place," the councilor reassured.

"Good point, you seem to have everything figured out," the prince replied.

"If everything goes as is planned, then we shouldn't have to worry," the Councilor said.

Just then, there was a series of clanking noises, and a new voice joined in.

"Sir, we have a situation. One of the guards was found, unconscious," the nervous voice of the guard said.

"What? We have an intruder? Show me," the voice of Remirez said hurriedly.

"Looks like your entrance strategy came in handy after all," Michael said to me, grinning.

"Come on, let's find that treaty before he gets back," I said.

As we burst into the room, we saw the prince still lounging about on a couch facing a desk. At the sight of us, he practically fell off the couch and drew a short sword from a scabbard at his waist.

"Ok, pretty boy, leave and we won't hurt you," Michael said sternly.

"You dare threaten me? I've trained with the best swordsmen in Orthos!" he said haughtily before charging straight at us, sword raised over his head to cleave Michael in half.

Michael spared him a glance before raising Kaladbolg and knocking the sword from the Prince's hand, then I rammed my shield into his face, breaking his nose with a crunch and knocking him unconscious.

"And I've killed the best," Michael said, before looking to the noble's desk.

I noticed a partly open drawer and pointed it out to him; he opened it and removed a piece of paper he found in there.

"Here, take it," he said, giving the paper to me, "I'm fighting an overwhelming urge to burn it."

It was a treaty sure enough, complete with the signatures of all of the Councilors and the ruler of the other kingdom participating in the 'union of not only royal families but also royal domains'. The only thing missing was the signature of the ruler of the first kingdom.

_Looks like they intended for Zelda to find out about it only when it was too late,_ I thought, gritting my teeth at the thought of this…this royal scam.

Just then, the door burst open and a tall, middle-aged man wearing a robe with the Hylian crest on it stormed in. At the sight of us, his face suddenly went into surprise, but then immediately went back to a cold sneer.

"Ah," the councilor said, "Look who we have here: the Princess's personal Hero and…what are you?"

Michael seemed to ponder for a moment, then grabbed me and said, "Long gone! That's what I am!" before we disappeared with a loud bang.

When we rematerialized in the Castle Courtyard, there was silence of about two seconds before I heard a very familiar shout of, "Why the hell did you go?"

_Oh boy, Michael's gonna get it. I kinda feel sorry for him, but that's probably because he got us out of there without too much trouble._

Just then, Midna stormed toward us, murder in her eyes.

Looking around desperately, he grabbed the royal union treaty and thrust it toward Midna, "Does finding something very incriminating make up for it?" he said, sounding quite desperate.

Zelda suddenly appeared, "Did you say you found something?" she asked.

"Y-y-yes," Michael said, stuttering, and handing over the document. She read over it for a few moments before her eyes widened.

"Where'd you find it?" Zelda said, curious.

"It was in the Councilor's office," I said, "Turns out they were going to have the Prince of Orthos marry you."

"That's the funny part," Michael said, "Pretty boy tried to cut us with a little butter knife that looked like a short sword, and Link smashed him in the face with his shield." At this memory, a smile crossed Michael's face. "Broke his nose and knocked him right out. I hope that helps Mister 'I've-trained-with-the-best-swordsmen-in-Orthos-so-I'm-bettter-than-you' with his ego."

Suddenly, he remembered something, "Did you read my book?"

"Yes, I got bored after the first three pages," Zelda said, a rare wry smile on her face.

"Can I have it back then?" he said glumly. Zelda handed him back the book and he made it disappear in Twilight Particles.

"Ooh look, the bodyguard keeps a diary!" Midna said tauntingly.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Michael said glumly, "Does this mean you're not going to kill me for violating what I can best describe as a curfew?"

"Maybe," she said, a wicked smile crossing her face.

I decided to intervene at this point, "Hey, could you let him go for once?" I said.

"Why? It's no fun," she responded, pouting like a small child.

"And this is the part where I make my escape," Michael said, before going into a full sprint for the battlements. As he neared them, he jumped straight up, planted one foot on the wall, stepped off, and thrust one hand downward. He suddenly shot up to be almost level with the battlements, and then grabbed onto the stone archer's hole right below the crest of the wall and climbed onto the walkway from there.

"Since when can he move that fast?" I asked in awe.

"I'm not even going to ask," Midna said beside me.

"Well then, I think we should prepare for the Councilor's trial," Zelda said, favoring Midna with a serious look. Midna shook her head negatively in reply and Zelda simply looked away.

_What was that about?_

* * *

**Ganesh295: Finally, this chapter wasn't written so much as gutted out, but I finally made it.**

**Michael: Yeah, and you rewrote the Manor break-in about six times.**

**Ganesh295: Oh and seeing as this may be my last update before Christmas, Merry Christmas to all!**

**Michael: And if you review, Midna might actually succeed in ripping me to pieces, and you will recieve the muffin of triple-redundant happiness!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**(A/N: Sorry about how long it took me to get this one up, but I couldn't stop playing 007 Bloodstone. That game is an unfair kind of hard on the 007 difficulty, but enjoyable nevertheless due to the fact that all my other games are pitifully easy.)**

**

* * *

Chapter 14: Maybe he ain't such a bad guy…or not**

**No POV**

The rest of that day passed without incident, other than Telma interrogating Link, Midna, and Michael about their absence and about the blood on Link's shield. However, that was easily avoided thanks to Michael creating an Illusionary overlay to hide the blood, and resulted in Telma questioning her eyesight.

Fortunately, Michael had none of the marks on his robe that one would expect from the activity he had partaken in, and Midna had stayed away from the action, so the questions had ended there.

As soon as they got back their room, Midna asked the two what had happened, and the two swordsmen gave her a detailed account of what had happened, though they both had a hard time getting through the room with the wall to wall portraits of…

Let's skip that.

Anyway, seeing as the day was long over and night was creeping over Hyrule by this time, the group decided to turn in for today.

The next day, they decided to go see Princess Zelda again and ask what would become of the noble, whom Link and Michael had failed to apprehend on their first foray into his manor.

"So," Link asked, "What're we gonna do about the Remirez?"

"Can we just skip the formalities and either kill him, exile him, or imprison him?" Midna said, impatient and slightly ticked off at Link's description of the room with wall to wall portraits of…

Need I go on?

"As much as I _despise_ traitors; he still has to stand trial, and for that we need to arrest him," Zelda had replied sagely.

"Oh boy, should we bring a battalion with us?" Michael said, already pessimistic at the prospect of having to not only break into that manor again, but to arrest it's master, who looked to be of the type who would skip the cliché one-on-one fight and just call down a legion of guards on them.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Midna said, something in her tone told the others that she would be cracking her knuckles right now if her royal upbringing didn't scream itself hoarse against that.

"Please, as much as we need him, can we avoid bringing his manor down around him?" Zelda said almost pleadingly.

"Oh fine, go and ruin my fun," her Twilight counterpart muttered bitterly.

"Indeed," Michael thought out loud, lost in fantasies of beating the living hell out of Remirez in his Demonic Amalgamation form** (A/N: And yes, I have finally decided on a name for that Claimh Solais/Kaladbolg amalgamation thing)**.

"Haha! Someone who agrees with me!" Midna said triumphantly.

"I just think the douche doesn't deserve the formality," Michael said, not wanting to take sides too early.

"So then, what do you propose?" Zelda said, looking directly at him.

Michael suddenly found himself knowing exactly how an actor under the spotlight for the first time feels. More nervous than they could have believed was possible.

"Um…Maybe we could, you know, just arrest him and send him packing off to a nice, deep cell in the dungeons for a good, long time. I mean, we already have proof of his treachery," he said, his voice starting small and gaining strength as he continued.

"Acceptable as an idea, very well, let's go see what we can do about our traitorous Councilor," Zelda said.

"Just one request," Michael said, "Don't lock me up in a Nayru's Love crystal. I can take care of myself to a certain extent," Michael said.

"Maybe," Zelda said, barely restraining a smirk at how ticked off Michael had looked when he was stuck in that crystal.

"So," Link interjected, "Are we going to arrest the guy or not?"

As the group approached the Manor, they immediately noticed that the guards that had covered the narrow trail were no longer on their posts. The path looked deserted, as did the rock ledge that Link had used to get in last time.

"Odd," Link wondered aloud, "Almost as if he's expecting us."

"And why shouldn't he?" Michael replied, "We just buzzed him yesterday, didn't we? Gave the douche a nice little shock right in his sense of security!"

"Ugh," Midna said, half-disgusted and half-amused, "Why do I have the feeling that you're trying and failing miserable to act like a badass?"

"Ow," Michael said clutching his chest while still walking as if Midna had stabbed him there, "That really hurt."

"As it very well should," Midna said.

"Oh come on, Midna, be nice," Zelda said. **(A/N: Lol, I looked at the clock and it said 3:43 PM, shout out if you find out what that's a reference to.)**

By now, we had reached the front double doors of the Councilor's Mansion; we came up on the first two guards. The same guards that Link had pointed out to Michael the first time he had come here.

"Halt!" they said as one, "What business do you have here?"

Zelda calmly stepped forward, "Councilor Remirez is to be arrested for treachery. If you try to stop us, you are going down with him for obstruction of justice, if you're still alive after we are through with you," she said, an unexpected steel in her voice.

Nevertheless, the two guards lowered their spears and pointed them at the group.

"We are under orders from Remirez not to let anyone in," they said, standing their ground.

In a flash, Valmanway was in Michael's hand as he swung the flat toward them and, though the blade in Michael's hand did not reach them, they crumpled, both unconscious.

Zelda looked from the two unconscious guards to Michael and back, then she turned to Midna and said, "Did you do that?"

Midna smirked, "No."

"Then who…" Zelda voice trailed off as she noticed two swords much like the one Michael held floating in mid-air where the guards' heads were. Her gaze turned to their helmets and they showed matching dents.

"Afterimages," Michael explained, "Still haven't thought up a proper name for them yet." Having said so, he sheathed the blue blade and said, "Well, are we going to get this guy or not?"

Looking at the thick doors, Midna said, "Ok, who wants to take care of them? Or should I?"

Link said nothing, but pulled out a large, shining, steel ball with a length of equally unblemished chain attached to it. The others retreated to a safe distance as Link swung the ball around in a circle, building up momentum before hurling the shining steel mass at the door, reducing the formidable barricade to splinters and sawdust.

Eyeing the carnage, Michael found himself at an utter loss for words to see the formidable item in action for the first time until he remembered the first thing he'd thought when he'd first used it in the game.

"I'm seriously starting to think that that thing of is made of silver," he said, slightly awestruck at how thick the door was judging by the fact that the dust still hadn't completely settled.

"If that thing's made of silver, then I'm impressed," Midna said from behind him. He turned to her and she quickly said, "What? Do you have any idea of how many times he's used that?"

"Roughly."

Suddenly, Michael seemed to enter the throes of a Great Idea for a moment. He turned to the others and said, "Wait here, I just got a great idea. Zelda, do me a favor and get ready to imprison the guy in a Nayru's Love spell when he comes running out."

He muttered a quiet incantation and the swords on his back disappeared, followed by a storm of Twilight Particles forming a very familiar sword. When the particles solidified, Orlox's Sword was once again in his hand. He focused on the image of a scythe and the weapon in his hand melded to its new shape. He then pulled the hood of his robe over his head so as to conceal his face completely and pulled the robe itself close around him to conceal himself completely in the obsidian-plated folds of the armor.

"Is that supposed to be what I think it is?" Midna asked tentatively.

"Yup," Michael said, cheery in spite of the somber mood of his attire.

A loud voice called from inside, "Who dares to intrude on my property?"

**Michael POV**

Instantly in character, I slowly strode into the mansion, activating the Eye of Truth glyph on my chest to see past the low hood that concealed my face. I saw the small army of guards and Councilor Remirez standing on a balcony, looking down on the new figure in his vast foyer, lit by a hanging chandelier.

"It is I, the one who came to you that night not long ago while you were in the company of the Ruler of this land. This land which you intend to betray," I said, my voice grim.

"Y-y-y-you a-a-again!" the now shaky voice of Councilor Remirez said.

"Who other than me?" I said, trying desperately to keep a note of amusement out of my voice.

"How did you get through the door?" the traitor said desperately, "I tested it's effectiveness myself! Nothing short of a battering ram could've gotten through!"  
_How 'bout a few tens of kilograms of steel? Or is it silver?_

Perhaps now would be a good time to sound amused at the failure of his pitiful blockade.

Instead I opted for a more solemn route of speech.

"Your corporeal barricades are mere pebbles in my path, in a way; I remove both obstructions with equal ease," I said, making sure to include a noticeable hint of amusement in my voice.

"Guards!" the Councilor shouted, "Kill him!"

His mercenaries, however, were hesitant to attack me.

_It seems that my disguise is quite convincing._

Suddenly, I heard a voice cry out and metal feet rush toward me.

_Oh crap, I don't know how to use scythe weapons._

Wait a minute, this staff that the blade is attached to is also made entirely of metal. I can block with that instead.

The hired soldier rushed at me, sword raised to cleave me in half. I easily sidestepped the attack and brought the metal staff up to intercept his weapon.

Caught by the unexpected strike, the guard's sword flew out of his hand and hit the floor with a clang. I then spun around; striking the guard full in the face with the top of the staff on the side that was reverse of the blade. The guard fell down while spinning from the force of the blow, already unconscious. I turned to face the traitorous councilor and his miniature army, robe still concealing me entirely.

"Anyone else?" I said, adopting the no-nonsense tone that Impa had so often used in the long and arduous process of teaching me.

There was a moment of silence, then the room emptied with great haste.

"So," I said, unable to keep a smug smile off my face and thankful for the concealing hood. "Aren't you going to follow them? 'Cause it looks like they just barricaded the only doors out of here," I indicated the doors on the lower foyer and the door behind him. He was trapped on the balcony.

"What?" he shouted, then turned around and tried to get through the door behind him, only to fail at doing so.

_Ok, enough messing with the guy, I hope he likes prison food._

"Oh and by the way," I said, finally pulling off my hood, "Remember me?"

**No POV**

Councilor Remirez's face lost all complexion it had in that moment.

He had been fooled.

Hood-winked seemed a more appropriate term.

"You again! Ok, then. If you're here then where's the Princess's little servant?" Councilor Remirez shouted.

At that moment, Link stepped into the deserted lobby, accompanied by Midna and Zelda.

"Well, so this is the ever-annoying Ex-Councilor Remirez?" Midna said, distaste dripping from her voice.

It wasn't Midna's scathing remark that got the traitor's attention so much as her foreign attire and bluish skin. He cast a perusing glance at the Twili before addressing Zelda directly.

"Is it just me, or have you started to develop strange tastes in the company you keep?" the soon-to-be-ex-councilor said.

"And what's that supposed to mean, asshole?" Midna shot back.

By now, Michael had reverted Orlox's Blade to its normal form and made it disappear before bringing Laevateinn, Claimh Solais, Kaladbolg, and Valmanway back to their places.

_There must be some enchantment placed on these swords, otherwise I'd probably fall through the floor thanks to their supposed weight._

"My, my, Zelda, something tells me that your father wouldn't have approved of your new friends," the traitor said.

That seemed to tick Zelda off somewhat, as her reply was laced with foreboding.

"I don't think that one such as yourself would be in a position to talk about my father," she said, an undertone in her voice suggesting that she was not in the mood to be trifled with, "It is a wonder how you got appointed to the Council in the first place."

The douche took that one quite hard, "You know why? Your father was a fool, that's why! He was far too trusting for his own good! You know how I gained so much influence in the first place? It was actually quite easy; I just hired assassins to kill him and double-crossed the assassins when they attacked. The fool was so grateful to me that he had me instantly bumped up to High Councilor. And at the same time I got his respect! Which is more than I can say for you! From what I've heard, none of the Council will ever respect you! Ev-" his words were choked off as a dark tendril of energy shot out from seemingly nowhere and wrapped around his throat, stilling his rant before it even started.

"Midna, was that you?" Zelda said turning to her Twilight counterpart.

"Nope," the Twili said, her expression grim, yet showing hints of smugness, "Him," she indicated Michael.

Zelda turned to see Michael holding out one hand, from which a tendril seemed to extend. Her eyes followed the course of the black appendage, and they ended up on the thing curled around the traitor's throat.

"Was it because she lost it? Or because of what you told them?" Michael said angrily. Then his expression calmed and he turned to Zelda.

"Permission to kill him?" he said coolly.

"Denied," Zelda said calmly, "But you can drag him down here."

"Nah." He released his hold on the Councilor, but the tendril remained in the air a few feet from him and was joined by three more, totaling up to four dark tendrils extending from his hand.

"I got a better idea," he said before the traitor interrupted.

"How dare you attack me!" the now released Ex-Councilor screamed.

"Ah shut up," Michael shot back, "The only thing that was attacked was your sense of propriety, and you deserved it."

"How dare you speak to me in that to-" Remirez was about to say when Michael furrowed his brow and appeared to focus on something. The tendrils extending from his hand grew spikes that covered them entirely, flailed around wildly, and then lashed themselves onto the balustrade of the balcony.

"Didn't I say shut up? This is why you're supposed to listen to people, nimrod!" he said, clenching his hand into a fist and pulling it back as the tendrils started to pull. There was a loud crack, and Remirez's pupils dilated in horror as the balustrade he was leaning on gave way, sending him falling to the ground.

A few feet before impact, the traitor somehow righted himself and landed on his feet far too lightly for the speed with which he had fallen from his balcony.

"Die!" the traitor shouted, firing a large blot of energy straight at Michael. The fledging necromancer smirked and made as if to catch the attack in his hands. Right before it would have hit Michael, the blot of energy suddenly quivered in mid-flight and packed itself into a ball before sailing right into his waiting hands. The annoying smirk still evident on his features, the necromancer seemed to flatten the ball of energy into a disk with his hands before throwing it straight back at the Councilor. This all happened within a matter of seconds.

Caught unprepared, Remirez was hit head-on with the reflected attack and was launched into the wall behind him, leaving a shallow crater in it as he slid down, unconscious due to having let his head snap back and hit the wall rather hard thanks to the force of his sudden deceleration.

"Lesson one: Never build your house on top of a graveyard, we Necromancers turn into the ultimate home wreckers in that kind of circumstance," Michael said simply, turning around and walking out of the deserted foyer. Distantly, they could hear him mutter to himself, "The douche is _so_ very lucky that he is supposed to be alive and standing trial, else I probably could've just torn down the whole balcony and finished him then and there."

Zelda turned to Midna, "So this is what you meant?"

"No."

Zelda shook her head and muttered a quiet incantation, and a large Nayru's Love crystal closed around the traitorous noble and lifted up a few inches, following the Princess of the Light World to entrance of the Mansion. She favored Midna with the same serious look she had yesterday, and Midna shook her head negatively again. Zelda once again looked away as she left the deserted mansion.

Link looked between them again, confused.

_Women,_ he thought to himself.

"Well," Midna said, "Are you coming? Or are you just going to gawk at me all day?"

He came back to himself with a start and realized that he had been staring at Midna during his inner monologue.

"I'm coming," Link said, catching up with Midna, then slowing to a walk to match her pace as they left.

Michael POV

I had once again disappeared, but not to Castle Town. No, I had gone back to the manor of Ex-Councilor Remirez.

I didn't know why he did this, just that there was something almost physically pulling me toward the manor.

But there was also a strange curiosity that was guiding me to go back.

That attack…with the dark tendrils…I didn't know how to do that…it hadn't been in any of the spell books I'd red. And yet, it felt like I'd known that spell for a long time and was proficient at it…but at the same time it felt like another presence was guiding my hand in that attack…like someone else was guiding me through it…

_Ugh, talk about the epitome of confusion._

I walked over the ruins of the door, knocked on one of the door that led deeper into the manor. Finding it locked, I drew Claimh Solais incase I needed to stun any guards with its light and stepped back. With a yell, I kicked at the door with all of my considerable might. The door fell with loud bang, the hinges ripped off the vulnerable wood that they were seated in. I walked in cautiously, eyes darting everywhere for Remirez's private soldiers. There were none in the hallway. Still not sheathing the glowing sword, I continued on my way through the manor, following that strange sensation that he couldn't exactly describe.

After a while of following the hallways in the direction that the strange presence pulled him, I found myself facing a strange sight; the hallway I was standing in dead-ended in a wall with a portrait of Ex-Councilor Remirez.

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself, sheathing Claimh Solais, "If there's a dead-end here, then where's the magical energy signature that I followed? I somehow find it hard to believe that even Councilor Remirez would infuse a portrait of himself with enough magic to generate that signature."

But still, the presence of the signature was undeniable and it felt like it was coming from behind the painting. So maybe he had hidden it behind the portrait.

_But then how do I get at whatever is back there? I am now sure that the power boost I got was not from a graveyard being underneath the house. But if it wasn't a graveyard, which should've generated multiple small signatures and not this monstrous amount of power I'm following, then what could it have been?_

Frustrated, I was about to vent my feelings on the wall when he heard a curious fizzling sound. Turning around, I saw that a seemingly innocuous marble statue of a wizard holding a tall staff had somehow come to life and was firing bolts of what looked like pure light at me.

I twisted wildly to one side as a light bolt passed through the space where I had been not more than a second ago. I avoided the second light bolt in the same manner, but was more in control with the third one, catching it in my hands and returning it to the mage statue. The mage statue was more obviously more skilled than falling for that, as it fired off a bolt of pure darkness this time with no effort, canceling out the reflected attack.

Now alternating between Light and Darkness bolts, the mage statue kept me at bay by forcing me to immediately return each captured attack to counter the next one.

After a while, I suddenly concocted an inspired, yet undeniably stupid, idea.

_Maybe I can catch two different types of bolts in each hand._

I decided to implement this strategy, and found, to my surprise, that controlling two different elements simultaneously was actually quite difficult. The first two balls of simultaneously controlled Light and Darkness I tried to tame exploded in his hands and sent me flying back into the wall.

"Ow, my back," I grumbled as I picked myself up and tried to implement my strategy again.

This time, things went slightly better. I was able to get up to four shots of each element in a separate hand before they exploded, sending me into the wall again.

This time, however, when I hit the wall, the wall started to turn on its central axis, sweeping me into a new corridor and leaving me wondering at why the stupid thing didn't turn before.

"Ah, who cares?" I said to myself disdainfully, "I'm just gonna get out of here before that damn automaton gets through the wall."

This time I didn't need to follow the magic signature to find my way around, the hallways only went in one direction.

_Seems like the douche wasn't expecting anyone but him to come around here. I guess that must be why there weren't any spellcasters guarding his mansion, as he probably wouldn't want them snooping around for the source of the insane amounts of magical energy that I'm feeling right now._

_Strange, though, it almost seems like it's…calling me._

As I walked through seemingly a seemingly endless corridor, I suddenly heard the sound of crumbling masonry far behind me.

_Shit, that thing got through the wall awfully quick. Looks like I better find whatever it is I'm looking for and haul ass._

As I rounded a final corner, I immediately froze where I was, suddenly feeling quite numb.

_W-what the bloody hell?_

Before me, in a tall glass display case, was a sword. It looked like a rather thin version of Orlox's Sword. The cross-guard was of a unique flowing design. The hilt and the grip were unusually wide and rounded. The pommel itself looked like three wine corks stacked on top of each other. The silver-white color of the entire sword was what gave it away though, that and the strange white ethereal glow that surrounded it all added up to mean one thing.

_The Execution Sword._

_ The Sword of the Sages._

_ What the hell is Ganondorf's sword doing here!_

Crazy or not, there it was, so real that I could probably cut my finger on it and see the blood stain the blade.

Carefully, almost reverently, I lifted the glass display case clear of the blade and set it down on the ground beside the stand. Then I grabbed the hilt of the glowing blade and immediately felt an overwhelming rush of power sweep through me. I froze in place as I heard a deep voice that was strangely reminiscent of thunder spoke in my mind.

_You who have taken this blade, first know the past of its last wielder_, the voice boomed as random images flashed through my mind at dizzying speeds, a camp in the middle of a desert, a great fire breathing creature that flew without wings and moved like a snake, an enormous, withered tree with a face superimposed on it, a colossal waterfall that emptied out in a river, both of which had been completely frozen over, a never ending sandstorm through which one could barely see flags, a small child wearing a green tunic and holding a child-sized sword and shield trying to bar my path, a tall man in red robes falling before me with a sword embedded in his chest to the hilt, a-

With a great effort, I released the sword and staggered away, satisfying an overwhelming need to take deep ragged breaths as I tried to comprehend what I had just seen. A cold sweat had broken out on my face as I looked at my hands, expecting some sort of damage and finding none, then looking at the blade, dropped unceremoniously on the floor.

"What…" I wondered out loud, "What kind…of…weapon…is this?"

Slowly, as though at any moment the blade could spring up and attack me of its own accord, I approached the weapon again and, anticipating pain for whatever reason, grasped the sword. Again, that unnerving voice called out in my mind.

_Hm, you're not quite what I expected. But I guess I'll have to make do with what I get. Who are you?_

"Ok, that's it, everybody out of the pool, friends and neighbors, _I HAVE OFFICIALLY BLOWN MY WHEELS!_" I shouted to the ominous silence, having decided that uttering those words in my mind wouldn't do them justice.

Just then, the automaton came around the corner and into the room. It stood stock still for a second, then started firing bolts of Light at me.

With the reckless abandon that accompanies a recent loss of sanity, I danced around its attacks, catching a few but not releasing them, until I was safely behind the temporary cover of the display.

The statue's bolts hammering away at my cover, I tried to devise a plan for dealing with it but was consistently distracted by fresh remembrances of the frightening memories I had recently seen. After a while, I decided to abandon all attempts at a strategic solution, called up Orlox's sword from storage, and held it with an enormous, spike-headed mace in my mind. The blood-bound weapon responded to my command and started to turn into an enormous mace with a spike head that looked like it would do more damage just by being hit by the spikes, ignoring the large black ball of metal they were attached to entirely.

I hefted the thing and waited for a moment, steeling myself for my suicidal plan of attack as adrenaline pumped through my veins, before dashing out of cover at the thing, keeping my movement as unpredictable as possible. As I closed the distance, the statue stopped using bolts and was now firing off these large crescent waves that moved quite slowly and were very easy to avoid. Approaching the statue, I hefted the large mace on one shoulder and prepared to swing as soon as the automaton was within range.

"Special delivery for Mr. Ugly," I said, the banter dulling my fear slightly as I heaved the mace straight at the statue with all of my strength.

At that point, several things happened at once.

The spiked mace smashed into the statue, the sheer speed of the weapon combined with the vicious spikes tearing through the soft marble so thoroughly that the torso wasn't just torn off, it went flying into the wall with so many cracks in it that it disintegrated upon impact, turning into a fine powdery grit.

I, operating completely on instinct, then attempted to redirect the mace's sideways momentum into an overhead swing which completely demolished the remaining half of the statue with the ease of an iron wrecking ball smashing down a plywood building.

The only surviving part of the mage statue, the long marble staff, then started to glow green and then exploded, sending me flying back a few feet into the display.

"Ow! My back! Again!" I muttered to myself as I got up, quite annoyed by how often this was happening. I hefted Orlox's sword, the blade having reverted to its normal shape now, and made it disappear in a shower of Twilight Particles.

Then my gaze fell on the glowing blade that I had come here for. Cautiously, I walked over to it and picked the sword up, relieved that the weapon had apparently fallen silent, and placed it too in my Twili Storage 'Pocket'.

Having done this, I felt a sense of great tiredness wash over me as the adrenaline faded from my bloodstream. And then pain in my back hit me like a highballing semi and suddenly I wished for nothing more than to go back to either home or some safe haven.

With this in mind, I gathered my thoughts and warped directly to Telma's Bar.

When I arrived, I was dully aware of a barrage of questions from Telma, but couldn't distinguish a single one. I was aware that my staggering, shambling gait was making them nervous, but I didn't care at this point. Barely aware of my surroundings, I stumbled my way to the room that Link, Midna, and I had been practically living in from time untold. I reached out for the door knob, missed, ran into the door, tried for it again, and stumbled into the room, a black curtain falling slowly over my vision.

_Got…to…get…to…the…bed…before…_

I managed to take off the obsidian plated Twili armor and lie down on the bed before merciful darkness finally claimed me.

**Link POV**

"Ugh, just great," Midna grumbled, mostly to herself, "We let him out of our sight for just one moment and he vanishes! I know I said he could disappear when he wanted to, but this is ridiculous!"

"I just don't get him," I stated simply, "One minute he's trying and failing to act badass, the next he is, by all accounts, succeeding at doing just that, then masquerading as the god of Death, and last but not least, pulling down the balustrade of Remirez's balcony and acting as though he could've torn down the whole balcony altogether," I shook my head in disbelief, "Sometimes I wonder how much of what he says is the truth and how much is sheer bravado."

"I think I told you that he didn't make sense, didn't I?" Midna said to me.

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting him to be eccentric to this degree! It's almost like he's from somewhere else entirely!" I shot back.

Midna almost stopped walking entirely and turned to look at me for a moment, "You know something? You're absolutely right. He told me he didn't come from here during the interview."

"Great minds think alike?" I offered as an explanation.

"I don't think that would apply to your case," she replied, a smile on her face for some reason.

"Well it's not like you were any help on those puzzles back in dungeons!" I shot back.

This sparked another long string of witty banter between us as we made our way to Telma's Bar, both of us being quite tired by now, having searched all over Castle Town for the wayward Michael, rooftops included with the help of Midna's levitation, but not able to find a trace of him anywhere.

Reluctantly, we had decided at this point to hold off the search until tomorrow.

I mean, he can't possibly get into any more trouble _now_; can he?

For once, I was right.

As we walked into the Bar we got about five steps into the room before I decided to ask Telma if she'd seen Michael.

"Yeah, came by a while ago. The poor guy looked like a total mess, and he honestly looked like he was having a hard time staying conscious. Had this weird shambling walk that reminded me too much of those Redeads you told me were in the Arbiter's Ground. Completely ignored me and went upstairs. I, for one, wouldn't be surprised if he didn't make it to the room," she said.

Fortunately for us, it turned out that Michael had made it to the room, as when we entered we saw him, lying on his bed as though he had barely made it, with the robe that he usually wore cast off to one side.

"Always in the last place you look," I said amusedly, shaking my head.

"Ya think?" Midna said.

"I don't care anymore," I said, fighting an urge to yawn, "Should we ask him where he went now? Or later?"

"I would say now, under normal circumstances," Midna answered, "But I don't think we can wake him up. And personally, I don't even want to try; it'll probably take more effort than it's worth."

"Ok then," I said, mostly to myself, "I'm gonna go get something to eat before we turn in. Coming?"

"Sure," she replied.

The next morning passed by without event, we all woke up within a few minutes of each other, washed up, and went downstairs to have breakfast. While there, Midna and I filled Michael in on what had happened during his absence yesterday.

"So," he said, "Do you know what they're gonna do with Remirez?"

"Well," I said, "Zelda decided on having Remirez tried in an open-air court a few weeks from now."

"I was all for having the traitor shut up in a dungeon for the rest of his life, which is actually the normal punishment for treachery in the Twilight Realm," Midna added, "I mean, why do we even need to have him tried?"

"Maybe Zelda wants to make an example of him," Michael offered.

"Could be," I said in agreement.

"Well, I guess that's the last we'll see of that guy," he stated, then he seemed to remember something, for his next words issued from him in a furtive voice.

"By the way, I found something in Remirez's manor yesterday," he said, leaning in so we could hear his whispered words.

"What? And since when did you go to his mansion?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"I never went back to Castle Town, I simply warped back there," he said.

Midna expression immediately went from vaguely interested to highly pissed off as he said this and I somehow knew that if Telma wasn't behind the bar serving the early birds, she would have blasted him to nothing right where he sat.

"You never went back to Castle Town?" she said, anger permeating her voice, "After we came back and noticed that you weren't here we searched all over Castle Town for you!"

Michael's face blanched as he heard this and he got the 'oh-crap-I'm-so-dead' look. With more than a little desperation evident in his voice, he said, "Well, this is actually quite the find, but I can't show it to you here."

"Ok then, show it to us upstairs," Midna snapped, "And hope it is interesting enough to buy you some time."

We finished our breakfast, trading sentiments on what Ex-Councilor Remirez might be subject to in the open-air trial. The trial was to take place in Castle Town's Market Square, due to the courts having been destroyed when the Castle went down.

Back upstairs, Michael was the last to enter the room and locked the door securely. Turning to us, he said, "Now take note of one thing before I show you this item; I have absolutely no idea where he got this." Having said this, he muttered a few words to himself and a storm of Twilight Particles appeared around his hand. For a moment, I thought he was going to show us the blade he had used yesterday that he had somehow turned into a long scythe. But the blade looked too narrow for it to be that weapon.

Then the shower solidified into a very familiar object.

I felt my jaw fall open as I looked at the long, silver, glowing blade.

"Where the hell did you find that?" I said, refusing to believe what I was seeing. My reaction was not aimed at the weapon so much as the knowledge of its previous wielder, though.

"Like I said," Michael explained, "I don't know where Remirez got this, I just found it and took it."

"Yeah, but that's Ganondorf's sword! How did he get it?" I half-shouted, not wanting to attract Telma's attention but still unable to digest how the traitor had obtained the weapon.

He sighed resignedly, "Right now, I want to know how Remirez got his hands on this sword. Midna, could you please explain what the plan is and why this sword could be important." Having said this, he seemed to think to himself for a moment before disappearing with the customary bang.

**No POV**

"Hey, Remirez," the gruff voice of the jail keeper said, "Wakey, wakey."

The Ex-Councilor yawned loudly; still groggy with the strange haze that accompanies abrupt and unwanted arousal from sleep, then sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around at the dirty cell.

"Where am I?" he said, suddenly frightened.

"The dungeons, awaiting trial on a charges of High Treason," the Jail keeper recited, quite worn out with the business of informing _every_ single prisoner who went through here of their charges.

At least there weren't any escapes.

"By the way, this is the first time in a few hundred years that someone was charged with this crime by the Princess herself," the Jail keeper said, mostly to himself.

"Who was the last one?" the traitor asked, afraid of the answer but over-mastered by his curiosity.

"Ganondorf," the stalwart guard said, "But he was granted the honor of execution by the Sages themselves! And he survived too! Well, he survived _them_ anyway. As for the Hero of Twilight, I honestly think that not even the Goddesses themselves could've spared Ganondorf from that…" then he added, "Not that they'd want to, anyway."

"The Hero of Twilight," Remirez thought aloud, searching his still groggy mind for that green-garbed warrior. There. It was a time that seemed not more than a few weeks ago.

"The Hero of Twilight!" he suddenly exclaimed, memory flooding through his mind. The treaty, the Hero, and…and…Councilor Remirez's mind struggled to find a image of the youth who had accompanied the Hero when they had stolen the document that had led to all this.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear a voice echo through his head, cheery, yet serious:

"Long gone, that's what I am!" the youth had said that day.

Slowly, his mind found images: a faceless youth wearing a long robe covered in strange symbols, a grim scythe-wielding figure pulling aside a hood to reveal…the face of that same youth, those black tendrils extending from that youth's hand.

"Yeah," the Jail keeper said, interrupting Remirez's reverie, "What about him?"

"He was there," the traitorous Councilor said, "When they apprehended me."

"Good Nayru," the Jail-keeper scoffed, "You must be one dangerous bastard if they sent the Hero after you!"

"He…wasn't alone," the Ex-Councilor struggled to find his memories of the last few seconds of consciousness, but it was as though they were hidden behind a thick gray veil.

"Oh?" the Jail keeper said, his curiosity getting the better of a few years worth of indoctrination that strictly forbade getting too close to the prisoners in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

"Who else was with him?" the guard asked.

Suddenly, a voice from behind them made them both start, the Jail keeper leapt for ward a few steps as he spun and drew his sword. Behind him was a tall figure, swathed completely in a black robe that glinted strangely in the light shining through the barred windows of the dungeon's cells. The robe was covered in strange designs, but there were a few shapes that seemed to be isolated from the rest; the glyph on his right shoulder that looked like a shield, the one on his left shoulder that looked much like a long sword with a trident-like cross-guard. The figure wore black gauntlets bearing an insignia he could not remember seeing before. What looked like a sword hilt stuck out from behind both his shoulders and the guard could see the ties for a cape going around the neck area of the robe.

"I came here to see the prisoner," the figure said in a grave, solemn voice.

"Who are you?" the Jail keeper said warily, already bringing his sword to bear on the figure.

"That is not important," the figure said, "I came here to see the prisoner."

"I am afraid that unless you have permission, then you should not even be here," said the Jail keeper, muscles taut, ready to burst into action if the stranger drew a weapon.

There was a tense silence for a few minutes, with Remirez looking worriedly between the two. Having already recognized the cloaked figure even though the hood he was wearing concealed most of his face, he wondered why the cloaked figure didn't simply blast the Jail keeper aside, something that Remirez himself would've done a while back had he been in the youth's place.

"Very well," the cloaked youth said, obviously deep in thought, "I could easily remove an obstacle such as yourself from my path, but it wouldn't be worth the energy required to do so."

"Are you threatening me?" the guard inquired, daring the youth to tender a reply.

"The same question was asked by one of your colleagues," the youth said, wry amusement creeping into his voice, "And my answer is the same in both cases; I do not stoop to threats."

Saying so, he left the dungeon, his cape billowing out behind him; the guard turned to Remirez, examined his expression, and said, "You know him?"

"That's the guy who was with the Hero," Remirez said, smirking at the irony of the situation.

"Wait," the Guard said, confused, "So that was the other guy who helped arrest you?"

"Yeah," Remirez said, shaking his head despite his plight, "And he's the one who knocked me out. Got me with my own attack."

The guard was completely silent for a moment that stretched into eternity. Then he shook himself out his trance and, with the clanking of plate armor and clinking of chain mail, the Jail Keeper set off at top speed down the hall after the path the cloaked figure had taken.

The Ex-Councilor waited for a few moments, and then sat down on the cold, hard, stone floor of the cell, lacking anything else to do.

"Ok, you know what? Screw getting permission, warping into the cell is just so much easier," said a voice from behind the traitor, making him jump.

He whirled around to find the same cloaked figure leaning on the wall opposite of where the Ex-Councilor was sitting. The cell the traitor was sitting in was bleak except for an iron gray length of chain that had likely once been attached to a shackle but was now broken off two-thirds of the way up as though it had been blasted off. The cell's proportions were quite roomy compared to what one would normally expect, so Remirez was relieved to find himself at a safe distance from the cloaked youth. Nevertheless, Remirez immediately slid straight into the wall, pressing himself against it as forcefully as he could, as though the cloaked figure might suddenly leap and try to rip him apart.

"What?" the cloaked figure said, his voice laden with amusement, "Am I really that scary?"

"Why are you here?" the traitor said, his voice still small from the shock of the youth's sudden appearance, "Was it not enough that you have me in prison? Must you come to gloat?"

"Look," the cloaked youth said menacingly, advancing on the traitor but still not removing the hood, "I didn't come here to mince words with a traitor who's either going to be executed or shut up in here for the rest of his life. I came here to know something, if you can't help me then just say so," he paused for a moment, then added, "I already know enough to know whether you're lying or not, so don't bother to try unless you want me to save the courts the trouble of deciding what to do with you."

The traitor thought about it for a moment, then decided that telling the truth might lull the youth into a sense of security that would grant the Ex-Councilor the element of surprise in what he had planned for later on…

_No prison will hold a man such as myself for long,_ Remirez thought to himself, his confidence slowly returning.

"Very well," the former noble said, his scheme planned out, "What is it that you wish to know?"

"Good," the youth said, "Now, as a show of good faith, I am removing my arms."

The youth raised a hand to his side and mumbled something incomprehensible under his breath. The hilts of what the traitor assumed were swords disappeared in a shower of black, square-ish, particles and a familiar shape appeared in his hand.

_Oh no. Please don't let that be what I think it is._

"Where did you get-" the youth started to say, then the long black object cast off the same black, square-ish particles to reveal the long, two-handed, silvery sword, "-this?"

Instantly, the Ex-Councilor's expression went from anticipation and dread-filled anticipation to stark terror.

"How did you find that?" the traitor half-yelled, not wanting to call any attention. How had the youth gotten into his vault? He had done his best to make sure that the sword would be untouchable: the automaton, not hiring any spellcasters as guards so they wouldn't be tempted to steal the blade, the picture wall that made the hallway seem like a dead end. And yet none of this had failed to stop this strange youth.

"How I found it doesn't matter," the youth said, brushing aside the traitor's inquiry in a manner identical to the way in which he brushed aside the Jail Keeper's inquiry, "What matters is this; how did you find this?"

"I-I don't know," the traitor said, still feeling some of the initial shock, "I just found it!"

"Are you sure?" the cloaked figure said, grim amusement in his voice, "You just found the Sword of the Sages lying around?"

"Um…well…I felt its presence around Hyrule field," the traitor said.

"Where in Hyrule Field?" the cloaked youth said, "It's a big place, don't ya know?"

"In the area of the field between the bridge of Eldin and Kakariko Village," said the Ex-Councilor.

The youth nodded to himself, apparently appeased by what he had been told so far.

"Ok, continue," the youth said, moving back to lean against the wall opposite to me.

"Well, what you must understand, I also collect magical artifacts as a hobby. So when I felt a surge of power around that region-" the traitor was saying when the cloaked youth cut him off.

"What were you doing in Hyrule Field? You're a noble, don't you have anything better to do?" he said.

"I…Um…I…well…I presume you know who the prince of Orthos is?" the would-be traitor said.

"Sorta," the youth said flippantly.

"Yeah, well…after finding the weapon and retrieving it, I…I stupidly decided to show him the sword and…and he took it, saying that it was one of his forebear's."

"Why don't I believe you?" the youth said, his tone showing no concern as he brought the silver blade to bear on the Ex-noble.

"Um…because the truth is even harder to believe?" he said hopefully, his heart racing at the sight of the blade that was almost perched upon his collarbone.

The youth smirked at this and replaced the blade at his side.

"Try me," he said, "But first, you didn't tell me how you got your hands on the sword in the first place?"

"Well, when I sensed the presence of the artifact but couldn't see it, I used a spell that is quite useful for finding magical artifacts that are there but hidden for whatever reason. Using the spell, I uncovered a pile of dust spread throughout that section of the field. Curious, I infused a small amount of magical energy in it. It immediately formed into a twisted heap of metal that may have been a sword at one time. I put a little more magic and it reformed into that sword that you're holding right now," explained the traitor.

"A little?" the youth said, shaking his head once again, "I doubt that 'a little bit' would cut it for a weapon that projected such a great amount of magical energy that an untrained necromancer such as myself could've found it," he paused for a moment, then said, "I sounded really snobbish right there, didn't I?"

"Yeah," the Ex-noble replied.

"But that's beside the point. If you found the sword by detecting its presence and then infusing it with enough magic so that it repaired itself, then what happened next?" the youth inquired.

"I don't remember all of it…just in bits and pieces…I vaguely recall returning home… making the picture wall…building the automaton…a few other things…but nothing clear. Only enough to keep me from setting off my own countermeasures and getting killed," came the reply.

"Are you sure that's all?" the youth said, something in his tone making the traitor think that the youth was again disbelieving.

"Yes, that's all I can remember," the traitor said, the undertones of desperation creeping into his voice.

The youth seemed to hold his gaze, though that couldn't be possible as his hood was concealing his face, for a moment that seemed to extend into eternity before the youth seemed to nod to himself, though the movement registered only as a vertical movement of the figure's hood.

"Ok, now to a more pressing question," the cloaked figure proclaimed, "Why?"

At that moment, there was a loud clinking and clanking as the Jail keeper ran back down the hallway toward the cell that the cloaked figure and the Ex-noble were both in. His face looked flushed from the seemingly strenuous activity of running out of the dungeons as fast as the heavy armor he wore would permit him to, searching a sizable area of the recently rebuilt parts of the castle before being noticed, reprimanded, and sent back to the dungeons. And he wore the look of one who has been humbled by their own actions and knows it.

Seeing the cloaked figure he went in a swarm of apology.

"Sorry," the guard said, panting from the effort of running while wearing the armor, "I…didn't know…that you…"

"It's okay, it doesn't matter anyway, I'm almost done with him anyway," the youth interrupted.

Remirez watched this with an air of amusement for a moment, then remembered something and said, "What do you mean 'Why?'"

The cloaked youth turned to the traitor and said, "Why is it that you wanted to betray Hyrule?"

"Oh," the Ex-Noble had been expecting this question, but not for it to be asked in this manner. He had expected to be strapped to a chair or the wall and be tortured while he was asked this. He had expected to scream out his answer as whatever device of agony they sought to use did its work on his flesh.

"It kind of comes from a realization long ago. At that time, I discovered the hard way that the world is hopelessly corrupt. Then I pondered over it for some time and decided that if I can't get rid of it, then I might as well get as big a piece out of the proverbial pie of corruption as I could wrap my hands around. From then on, my loyalties went whoever had the biggest pocketbook. For what else is there?" the Ex-Councilor said, reminiscing on the incident, so long ago, that completely changed his outlook on life.

"Fool," the youth said, "There is so much more than just money in this world, but you have shut yourself off from all of it if this is your mentality."

"It is you who is the fool!" the Ex-Noble shot back, "Friends betray you! Those who you love will bring nothing but pain! Those who swear loyalty to you turn their backs when you need them most! You will lose all those you hold dear someday! And you will be unable to do anything about it! Then you will know…um…what is your name?"

"My name is Michael. We will see which one of us is the fool!" the cloaked youth spat back before he exploded into black particles, which disappeared with a loud bang.

"Indeed we will," the traitor said, almost to himself, "And sooner than you think."

**Michael POV **

**(A/N: Now, I originally intended for Michael to go totally-off-my-rocker-lost-my-marbles-bat-shit-crazy in this part, but I changed my mind for the sake of continuity)**

As I arrived in the square-shaped, cobblestoned area in front of Telma's Bar, I removed my hood and went over the talk with Remirez in my mind.

_'Friends betray you!'_

Perhaps, if my paranoid side is actually right…which, as an afterthought, it never is.

_ 'Those who you love will bring nothing but pain!'_

If I ever work up the courage to tell Zelda only to be rejected, then that too might ring true.

_'Those who swear loyalty to you turn their backs when you need them most!'_

That would apply if anyone ever swore loyalty to me.

_'You will lose all those you hold dear someday! And you will be unable to do anything about it!'_

Fat chance, asswipe.

By this time, I had reached the door of the room in the inn that we had kept for Nayru knew how long now, and had my hand on the doorknob. Detecting something was amiss; I placed my ear against the door only to hear no sound coming from the other side. Worried, I opened the door and rushed into the room.

It was totally empty and the silence was overpowering.

Then something hard collided with the side of my head, the force of the blow sending me staggering as a hand grabbed the scruff of my tunic and I felt myself being slammed against a wall. My daze cleared to find a long, steel blade at my throat and a gauntleted hand securing its grip on my tunic. There was a splitting pain in my head and I was utterly confused.

"Link?" I said, totally bewildered.

"What the hell are you thinking? You're going to resurrect Ganondorf?" the Hero yelled, tightening his grip on the sword and my tunic. Behind him, Midna stood, a small bolt at the ready in her hand.

"You don't understand!" I tried to say, hoping to get through the anger blazing in the Hero's sapphire blue eyes. The analogy with the gem was made more fitting by the hard chips that his eyes had become.

"I don't understand! Who do you think you're talking to! I nearly died trying to bring him down and you want to bring him back! Why am I even telling you this!" Link said tightening his grip on both his sword and my tunic again, "I should've killed you by now!"

Suddenly, my mind spat a suggestion out as it has an annoying but nevertheless helpful tendency to do in situations like these, and I acted on it without thinking.

Acting as though I hadn't heard Link, I said, "Say, Midna, when you told him that I wanted to resurrect Ganondorf, did you mention the part where I said that it was so that I could use his power to fix the Mirror? Oh wait, even better; did you tell Link that Necromancers can control what they summon?"

Link's eyes suddenly went from blazing fury to confusion as he loosened his grip on my tunic and turned to Midna and I could immediately tell that she had left this out for whatever reason.

"What use would that have been? You can't control Ganondorf! This is Ganondorf we're talking about here! _Ganondorf!_" she said in seeming protest.

"Good for Ganondorf!" I shot back, "According to that book on Necromancy, there have been an innumerable number of times where Necromancers have controlled beings many times more powerful than themselves successfully!"

"Wait, wait," Link interjected, "You can control him if you bring him back?"

Midna opened her mouth to say something but I cut in before she could start.

"Yes! That's the whole idea of Necromancy! To bring something back and control it! Now, according to the book on Necromancy I found in the Twilight Realm, with a small amount of power, the dead can be resurrected into mindless zombies. With the right…ingredients – for lack of a better term – one can fully resurrect a dead being, with the resurrected being still under the Necromancer's control."

Link considered this for a few minutes, then seemed to see a problem, as the next words out of his mouth were, "Wait, what are we going to do about Ganondorf after he's finished fixing the Mirror?"

I shrugged and said, "I dunno. The same thing you were about to do to me, seeing as you thought my purpose served and found no more need for me."

Link thought about what I just said for all of two seconds before he suddenly released me and stepped back, removing the sword.

"No," he said, realizing my accusation for what it was, "I'm not like that. I don't dispose of people when I don't need their help, if that's what you're saying."

"Well," I said, straightening out my tunic and generally acting as though his plain rendition of my words hadn't gotten through to me, though the opposite was true, "You sure do a good job of acting like it. But back to the subject at hand, you won't need to worry about killing Ganondorf a second time."

"Why not?" said Link, "I doubt he'll just lay down and die."

"Do you understand the concept of _total _control?" I replied, my tone as callous as I could make it, "What I create, or in this case resurrect, I can destroy at will. Of course, the book on Necromancy says that the amount of willpower required to kill a being that you resurrect is relative to the power that you use to bring it back. So that could pose a small problem."

" 'A small problem?'" Link said disbelievingly, "How do you take the biggest obstacles wearing the most casual mood?"

My only response to this was a small smile before I remembered something quite important.

"Say, Midna, do you mind if I ask you something?" I asked.

"Yeah, what?" she said, yawning and stretching her arms out a bit as I glanced out the window to see that the sky had turned the inky blue shade of night.

"Could you teach me how to actually use my magic in a way so that I won't be a total dead weight?" I said, unable to stop myself from issuing a tendon popping yawn, "Mental note: Yawning is contagious."

Link looked as though he wished to contest this point, but let off a rather loud yawn himself as well.

"Ah what the heck, I'm gonna wash up before we head down for dinner, unless of course you've already eaten?" I said, heading for the solitary bathroom in the room.

"We've already eaten," Link and Midna said at the exact same time.

"Again?" I wondered aloud.

As I approached the only sink in the bathroom, I marveled at the fact that Hyrule's resident inventors had somehow devised a device that looked very much like the sinks back in my world. Except it only had one handle.

Turning the protrusion, I watched as a stream of water fell out the faucet that almost seemed like a front-and-center-piece to the sink itself.

I slipped the gauntlets off my hands and took the cool water in my hands for a moment, testing its temperature before splashing it in my face. Instantly, the blood that had rushed to my head without my notice cooled down and I felt more awake than I did a few seconds ago. Wiping off my face with my hands, I looked at myself in the mirror, and noted with a shock that my eyes were completely gray. None of the signs of other colors that Midna had reported back during that "job interview" so many weeks ago.

_Why is that so surprising to you? Didn't you already find out why? It's the power of your swords that keeps on changing your eye color. If you don't believe me, then try it out for yourself._

Deciding to listen to that voice in my mind which reminded me too much of Orlox, I summoned Laevateinn from the Twili storage, which was quickly becoming my favorite sword, though not the one I used most often.

_Gonna have to do something about that statistic._

True, but- What the? I rubbed my eyes, unsure of what I had just seen. When I looked at the mirror again, I saw that my eyes were now delegated two colors to bear. Now they were half gray, half livid orange-red orbs that stared back at me from the reflective glass.

Analytical side: _Yup, it's the swords all right._

Conscious side: _Kinda freaky if you think about it._

Fanfiction writer/reader side: _And kinda Gary-Stu-ish._

Conscious side:_ Shut the hell up! This is real life! Not some fanfic like the ones I used to read!_

Argumentative side: _Why don't you?_

Conscious side: _NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOUR ANTICS RIGHT NOW! SO SHUT THE HELL UP! RIGHT NOW!_

Orlox: _Looks like someone's more than a bit stressed out!_

Conscious side: (sighs) _True, but nevertheless._

Orlox:_ I think I know a trick to help._

Conscious side: _Don't you always?_

Orlox: _Perhaps._

Conscious side: _I can practically see your smug face right now just by listening to your voice, that isn't usually a good thing. Ah what the heck? Come on, show me the random stress-reliever that you know._

Orlox:_ Um…don't take this the wrong way, but this will only work when you're sleeping._

Conscious side: _Do you see me, backing away slowly with my eyes widening to the size of those bolts you threw at me back in the Twilight Realm?_

Orlox: _Didn't I just say not to take it the wrong way?_

Conscious side: _Oh, so it doesn't involve s-_

Paranoid side: _Don't finish that word! Lest the random sexaholics give chase!_

Conscious side: _No comment. You just said the word that I was going to say, well the prefix of what you said anyway, thus defeating the purpose of stopping me from saying it. And what sexaholics are you talking about?_

Orlox: _You do realize that you just defeated the purpose of saying 'no comment' with that mini lecture._

Conscious side:_ And I don't give a shit either. So there!_

Suddenly, my stomach let loose with an almighty growl, halting my inner monologue.

_Maybe I should just have my dinner._

_

* * *

_**Ganesh295: Damn that took a while to get up. Sorry about the long wait.**

**Michael: Well, it would help if you could stop playing _A Link to the Past._ And if you'd remember that, very soon, you're either going to start another fic and write it in conjunction with this one, or you're going to ask Msfcatlover if you could lend your abilities to her fic because you have nothing better to do.**

**Ganesh295: Or I could all those at once! =)**

**Michael: (Sighs) Mental note: Never underestimate a guy who somehow clears his homework from high school and still finds time to write.**

**Ganesh295: (Looks at word count) Holy Jesus! I broke my own record into metaphorical pieces! This chapter is 11,945 words long! HOLY CRAP! But then again, this thing was 20 pages on Microsoft Word, so I should've expected something like this.**

**Michael: (Sighs again) See what I mean!**

**Ganesh295: YES I DO! (Uses author powers to change his face into Ryuk's [from Death Note]) (Noms a Pocky for no reason)**

**Michael: (Eyebrow raise) Can you say freaky?**

**Ganesh295: FREAKY!**

**Michael: I didn't mean literally! And where are Link and Midna?**

**Link and Midna: Hiding behind this random wall.**

**Michael: The hell?  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, Life, School, and Homework are all culprits.  
**

* * *

_**Chapter 15: Battles in a Dream, Bolts of Magic, and…Killed in Action?**_

**Michael POV**

As the calm oblivion claimed me for the night, I soon found myself standing in what looked like an endless, white, ethereal plane. I was in the same light gray tunic that I wore under my robe (A very good idea, seeing as fall is dragging its sorry self through.) but on top of the undershirt that had been part of the outfit (obviously) as well as the same dark gray leggings. However, this did not catch my attention so much as the tall figure standing across from me.

He was tall, muscular, thickset, someone who would've been perfectly at home in a suit of plate armor worn on top of a set of light chain mail. The figure was a teal-colored being covered in pitch-black robes. In the figure's right hand was a long and very familiar great sword.

"Hey," the figure called, "Long time no see, at least not in the flesh."

"Orlox, I presume?" I said, not drawing any of my weapons despite the presence of one in the Twili's hand.

"What do you mean, you presume? You should know my voice, at least, well enough," he said, looking hurt.

"Wait," I said, perplexed, "That was your real voice?"

He looked quite offended at this and I quickly explained, "I thought that what I heard was just my mind's portrayal of your voice."

"Do you not understand the concept of my consciousness taking up residence in you?" Orlox said in a mockery of the same tone I had used with Link when explaining the concept of total control.

"Ok, fine, I get it now," I growled in a mock serious voice, "Now explain why we're in a dreamscape."

He gave a short laugh and said, "Didn't you know that physical exertion is one of the best ways to get rid of stress? It's only beaten by a few other activities, one of them being-"

"Ok, ok, I get the point," I blurted out, starting to feel a bit embarrassed for suggesting that. "Wait," I said, having just remembered something, "How am I supposed to get my weapons from my Storage now?"

"You have the only one you'll need," he replied shortly.

I felt around my back with one hand, first over both shoulders to find that only one of them had the hard metal of a hilt sticking out behind it. The fingers of my right hand wrapped around the metal piece and pulled. I saw a bluish-white flash behind me as the blade slid slowly out of its sheath and knew instantly which sword Orlox had apparently chosen to give me.

"Claimh Solais?" I asked, "But you're a Twili. Wouldn't the unadulterated light coming from the sword kill you?"

"Not in the dreamscape," Orlox said, "You cannot truly die in a dream. At least, not without serious tampering."

" 'You' referring to just about anybody, right?" I said, worry evident in my voice for whatever reason.

"Well…anybody who can consciously access their dreams," he said.

"Ok then, but enough about the dream," I said, "I presume that you know where my current skill level is, right?"

"You actually didn't do too bad in training with Impa," Orlox assured me, "I've seen people get either knocked out or roundhouse-kicked many more times than you have."

"Yeah," I replied, "Well I didn't underestimate her."

"True," he said. There was a short pause, then he said, "So, shall we begin?"

"Very well."

He brought his blade up to his face, then slashed downwards and to his side in a salute. I mirrored his motion and, formalities over, set myself, waiting for him.

He took the first strike, a wild diagonal swing, which I easily blocked. I didn't retract my weapon fast enough and he slid his blade forward to lock the guard of his sword with mine, pitting my strength against his. The guard lock was stagnant for a few moments that seemed to last an eternity, and then the swords started to shift in my direction with inevitable slowness. Although I was leaning my full weight on my weapon, I couldn't stop the slow progress of the blades in my direction. Part of my mind desperately searching for a solution to my predicament, another part forced my body to twist to one side while angling my blade downward, breaking the lock and sending Orlox's blade sailing through the empty space where I had been a second ago sending the blade's owner stumbling forward, leaving him hopelessly open to my attack as I was able to retain my stance and thus remained perfectly balanced. Orlox, however, turned the stumble into a forward roll that put him out of range before I could even attempt to strike.

"Hmm…Not bad for not having too much training," Orlox said, having regained his footing.

"Please," I said raising my blade diagonal to my face, "Save the flattery for when we're not trying to kill each other in a place where neither of us can truly die."

"You talk as if you already understand the concept of the dream world," he noted.

"I can catch onto concepts quickly when need be," I replied.

"Oh," he said, "Well catch on to this!"

Saying so, he seemed to disappear into nothing. I looked around for him, then suddenly heard a keen whistle behind me and immediately ducked, raising my weapon to deflect the sword that had nearly taken my head off.

"Hey!" I said, half-annoyed and half-amused, "You didn't say warping was allowed!"

"And why would I?" he said, mimicking my tone.

"Oh, and by the way," I said, "That was the worst one-liner ever."

"Hmm…Your action hero side didn't seem to think so," he shot back.

I was still in the same spot and we were matching blow for blow, neither of us giving ground, neither of us gaining any. This continuous stalemate went on for seemed like many hours. Finally, I managed to lock the guard of my sword with his, pitting his strength against mine once again.

We both pushed against the others' sword with all our strength, trying to break the sword lock in our favor. The swords remained stagnant for a length of time that could've been a few moments or a few hours, but after a while, both weapons started to shift slowly towards Orlox as the Twilight Realm's best warrior looked on with an air of grim amusement. Slowly, inch by infinitesimal inch, the swords stopped moving a good few inches from him and started a grindingly slow journey back towards me. Suddenly, I heard a very familiar voice that wasn't Orlox's.

"Wake up!" it said.

If I could, I would've immediately shot that voice's owner in the face with my crossbow.

"Link, shut the hell up!" I shouted, knowing that he probably couldn't hear me and breaking off the sword lock.

"Well, looks like it's time to go," Orlox said.

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

**No POV**

As Link stood over the necromancer, slightly worried by now due to his own inability to wake him, Michael eyes suddenly shot open and he sat up rapidly before sinking back down, holding his head like someone had recently bludgeoned him.

"Ow, my head feels like it just stopped an anvil in mid-air," he moaned, "What the hell did you wake me up for? This light is like a lance in my eyes. Wait, light? I slept really late didn't I?"

"Yeah," Link said, surprised by the necromancer's vocalized mental processing, "What do you mean, why did I wake you up? You were sleeping like you were dead!"

"Hmm…interesting. Must be a side-effect of the dreamscape," Michael said, mostly to himself, "Well then, what did I miss?"

"Breakfast, our plan to visit Ordon some time in the near future, seeing as I told them I'd be back soon, and Midna's decided to start teaching you today and is very close to coming up here to drag you out herself. And, knowing Midna, it won't be pretty," the Hero said.

"Oh," Michael said, the color draining from his face, "How long before she goes critical?"

"About 3 minutes."

Having said this, the hero watched with slight wonder as the necromancer washed up, got into his robes, and fixed up his general hygiene in record time. Michael almost looked like a gray blur as he rushed to get these things done, nearly knocking the door down as he left and all but leapt down the stairs. Before he reached the last stretch, he took a deep breath soon after, composed himself, and walked calmly into the bar room, Link catching up to him, and sat down to breakfast with Link sitting across from the Twili and Michael's chair perpendicular to them.

"Ah, I was thinking you'd never show up," Midna said in an overtly sweet tone which did _not_ bode well to Link.

"Um…yeah…Sorry about that," Michael said, sounding quite worried despite his countenance being void of any change at all.

"It's okay," Midna said giving Michael a rather disturbing smile, "Just make sure it doesn't happen again, or I'll make sure you get tossed in Death Mountain the next time we visit the Gorons," she kept that smile on her face the whole time.

"Is it just me," the necromancer muttered to himself, "Or are you acting more and more like Majora?"

"Who?" the Twili being subject to this comment asked.

"It's kinda hard to explain," the necromancer said, "Imagine an omnicidal demigod who is insane, sadistic, sees everything as a game, and erratically switches between the demeanor of an innocent child and a complete psycho."

Midna was silent for a few moments, then said, "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment, or an insult."

"Preferably as a compliment," Michael said, his anxiousness again given away by his voice. He finished eating by now, and stood up to leave, then sat back down, seeming to remember something.

"So," he said, "When do you want to start?"

"Right now," Midna replied.

"Ok."

"Now," Midna said, slightly amused at how hard this was becoming, "Let's see if you can _finally_ focus enough energy to actually create a bolt that lasts longer than two seconds before dissipating."

Michael, totally unarmed, raised his hand as though he was holding something as he shut his eyes. A small yellow-orange blaze appeared in his hand, burning brightly and about six inches above his gauntlets.

_Okay, step one_, Midna thought to herself, _Now let's see if he can launch it without it dissipating immediately afterward._

Apparently, this was not to occur, as the moment Michael released the bolt, it flared into a huge fireball that flew forward one foot before simply evanescing.

"Again?" Midna said, totally unsurprised.

"Well, it would help if I knew what I'm supposed to do," he shot back coldly.

"What do you mean you don't know what you're supposed to do?" the Twili said.

"Am I just supposed to gesticulate wildly and hope that a magic attack triggered from it will actually last?" he replied.

"No, you're supposed to focus the energy in a specific spot," she paused for a moment, then added, "It would help if you visualized whatever it is you want to do with the magic."

"Then why didn't you tell me that before?" the necromancer said, sounding exasperated.

"I thought you would've red something about that in those books back in the Twilight Realm."

"Didn't get that far before we left."

"Ok then, let's see what you can do now," the powerful Twili snapped, wishing to end this discussion.

Michael closed his eyes and did the same gesture as last time, but instead of a yellow-orange bolt appearing in his hand, the bolt was a pure white blaze.

"I said fire bolt, not wind bolt," Midna said, almost sounding bored.

The necromancer's eyes popped open as he heard this and he looked at the bolt in his hand. "Strange," he said, "I'm sure I visualized a bolt of fire. Ah well. Let's see if it gets anywhere."

Saying so, he made a motion with his hand as though casting something from his hand. The bolt flew forward, maintaining its composition for quite a while before, to the surprise of both teacher and student, exploding in a white blaze of the sharp tongues of fire.

"What the…that was a fire bolt?" Michael said, voicing his surprise while Midna kept hers unspoken.

Making sure to keep the shock hidden from her voice, she cheered, "Hooray! You finally created a bolt that lasted for longer than two seconds!" in a fake-cheerful tone.

"Suddenly, I really want to know what that bolt will do to a kargorok," the necromancer said, a chilling grin appearing on his features. He raised his hand again and this time a blue bolt formed in midair above the gauntlet, he was still facing the Twilight Princess as he did this.

Midna's eyes widened for a moment, but she was unable to see any malice in his eyes and quickly came to a conclusion.

"There's a giant bird right behind me, isn't there?" she said resignedly.

"Yup," he replied, making a flicking motion with his whole arm and releasing the bolt. Though the bolt was well over a foot above her head, she could still feel the heat as it flew over her head and exploded upon contact with the giant bird. The smell of burnt flesh assaulted her nostrils as she turned around to see…something…it was a misshapen charcoal black object which she would not have been able to distinguish the origin of had Michael not already alerted her of its presence.

"Hmm…looks like we can't eat it," he said calmly.

"Ugh, Michael, please! Link tried to cook one before…I don't even want to _try_ and remember how bad it tasted," she replied, shuddering with a semi-disgusted look on her face.

"Ok, ok, is that fried bird-thing good enough for a statement of my power?" the necromancer said.

A wicked smile curved Midna's lips as she replied, "No, this is just the beginning, and besides, I don't even know how good you are with defensive magic yet." Laughing as Michael's eyes widened with the 'Aw…Dammit!' look.

Surprisingly, offensive magic was not _too_ agonizing to get the hang of and, after many hours and scorched, wind-blasted, darkness-fried, and light-fried fingers, Michael was tentatively juggling multiple bolts of the same element, trying to work up his ability to control them so they wouldn't burst into an explosion of whatever element they were as soon as they left his hands. By the time Michael had gotten a solid grip on his offensive abilities, however, it was quite late in the evening. So, with Michael sweating quite a bit from the exertion that magic entailed, the two spell casters, one a master of a few of its many forms and the other gaining quick footholds in a variety of areas of magic.

Soon, by way of warps, the duo was at the gates of Castle Town. There were a few Guards hanging around the other side of the drawbridge from the two. They were conversing in low voices with a trio of tall men, each wearing long robes and wielding a long staff topped with a misty glass orb.

As Midna and Michael passed by them, a few low snatches of the conversation were made audible to the two by way of their proximity.

"Half-breed…tall…blue skinned…not so dangerous…consort…bodyguard of some sort…be careful…looks young…maybe seventeen…dispatched…three armed men…unarmed…unscathed," said one voice, sounding like it was muffled. The voice likely belonged to one of the guards.

Another set of voices, not so muffled, answered in less cautious tones.

"…Don't worry," a grim smattering of laughter accompanied these words, "No problem…only a kid…hey! Isn't that them?"

At this, the guards and tall men turned as one towards the two spellcasters, and stood for a moment, looking quite shocked at the very object of their discussion having just strolled by them; then one of the bearded men spoke, not to either of them, but rather to the guards.

"Are you sure that's them? I mean…the one on the left matches her description, but she doesn't look like any hybrid I've seen before," one of them said cautiously. "And the other one…the kid…I mean…he doesn't really look like someone who could take out three armed men. And didn't you say that he was wearing robes?"

Michael, who had chosen to shed the Twilian Armor before entering Castle Town again, was hoping to slip past this one if possible. The necromancer _really_ wasn't in the mood for fighting right now.

"I honestly have no idea who you're talking about," he said passively, stepping forward, his expression a fusion of calm, confusion, and curious hostility, "Can I help you gentlemen?"

The tall men looked upon this stranger with a mixture of amusement and haughty self-confirmation of this person's apparent harmlessness.

"None of your business, kid," one of them said, "We can handle our own problems."

Still standing a small distance from the conversation, Midna was wondering why Michael didn't either simply ignore them or simply kick the mages asses, which she knew for a fact would be no hassle at all for their combined powers…at least she thought they were mages.

Another of the mages, whispering in the third one's ear, said, "Shouldn't we just kidnap him? He bears a definite resemblance to the guy who took out that unit the other day. I'm only uncertain because he's not wearing a cloak, and he could just as easily have gotten different clothes. Besides…the way he spoke with us…it just doesn't match with the way he carries himself."

"Hmph, you may have a point Kel," the third one grunted, "But what of it? The three who were dispatched were inhumanely drunk in the first place, and thus were quite unprepared. We aren't the same. Between you, Baria, and I we possess much renown among the Hybrid Pest Control, not as much as Callister or Flavius, but we are still able to hold our own. And speaking of reputation, remind me why we're all dressed as mages? This is kinda ridiculous. Baria's the only one able to cast spells amongst us, I'm better with swords, and you're an archer."

"True, Cato," replied Kel, "But don't you think it would be a bit strange for a mage, a warrior, and an archer to be seen together? Especially so when all three of them are armed to the teeth? So we all dress as the one who would most likely be ignored, who would be Baria. Not everyone holds sympathy for our cause, as you have seen in Kakariko-"

"Which is actually quite barren-" interrupted Cato.

"Are you forgetting about the Gorons?" Kel interjected in turn.

Cato's face twisted into an expression that artfully mixed hatred and annoyance, "Damn Gorons don't give a damn about anything that happens outside of the damn mountain that has a Goddess-damned annoying habit of erupting at really damn inconvenient times with rocks the size of damn boulders."

"It's called Death Mountain for a reason," said Kel calmly.

"And why in the hells of Hyrule were we there anyway?" Cato snapped.

"We needed to secure a supply of obsidian…or was it iron? Or maybe that stuff that the guy in Kakriko uses to make those bombs?" Kel wondered to himself.

"Who?" Cato issued a short laugh, "The thin-ass fruitcake who goes psycho when any of us try to have a smoke in his shop?"

"Did you miss the signs that said, '_Absolutely no fire of any kind is allowed!_'" Kel replied, smiling.

"So? I was soaking for a full five damn hours after he unleashed that…that damn water wave on me." Cato said, shuddering in recollection.

Kel smirked at his comrade's discomfort, saying, "Actually, it seemed more like he'd somehow had a barrel of water appear from nowhere, already upended."

"Well it's damn lucky for him he has all those damn bombs, else he wouldn't have been alive for much longer," spat Cato.

"Hey, cool it, you know full well we're _not_ supposed to wantonly kill anyone who isn't one of those filthy hybrids," Kel replied.

"Yeah, well if we end up finding out that this kid is the guy who took down a whole unit, then it won't really be wanton," Cato shot back.

"Hey, wait a minute," Kel said, "Do we really have to kill this guy? I mean, if we could get him over to our side…" he trailed off, letting his comrade's mind finish the sentence.

"Maybe, but first let's find out if he is that guy," Cato said.

"We'll know soon enough, Baria's probably performing his secondary specialty right now."

Sure enough, at this moment, the first mage, who really was a mage, turned around and walked over to his two companions, his eyes shifting from a shining gold to their natural hazelnut brown.

"Well," he said, "I now know for a fact that he definitely doesn't act like someone with his power should, but he shut me out before I could find anything else. All I got was random pieces of garbage. But I'm pretty sure that he's our guy. Kel's right, the resemblance is undeniable, and the lack of a cloak is irrelevant. One of the men said they faintly remembered the guy they fought stop a sword with his forearm, in addition to throwing them around like ragdolls. In all blunt honesty, if he isn't that same guy who took out the troupe, then I'll eat Cato's loincloth, without salt. But there is a very simple way to find out." Saying so, Baria waved his staff and raised one hand. A red blaze formed in it, forming into a spherical projectile, reciting an incantation quietly to himself, he flung his arm as though throwing the bolt as it left his hand. As the projectile sliced through the air toward the unsuspecting necromancer, four sword hilts appeared on his back. One of them, one with a flame-orange topaz set into the pommel, quickly slid out of the sheath and floated up to intercept the bolt. At the same time, the necromancer spun around, shifting into the fighting stance he had had impacted into his brain with his martial arts training. The bolt slammed into the ordinary-looking, iron gray sword and there was a small explosion of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the three Hybrid Hunters were expecting to see a puddle of quickly cooling metal; as a result, the sight that met their eyes was one they were truly unprepared for. The sword was still there, and it was burning, the whole of the blade blazing with a bright red-orange inferno.

The teal-skinned Twili had not ignored this either, as she was also facing the three Hunters, the angry countenance adorning her otherwise beautiful face making her look downright lethal. She was forming some magic in her hand, aiming for one of the mages when, in the time it took her to blink, two of the mages cast off their cloaks to reveal that one of them was dressed in very loose-fitting leather and chain mail and the other in shining plate armor. In the hand of the leather-clad man was a well-made longbow, already strung and fitted with an arrow. The man in plate armor instead opted for much simpler weapons; a battle-ax and a studded buckler.

_Disguises,_ the Twili sorceress thought to herself, _Only one of them is a mage, and the other two looked skilled enough with their weapons as it is. There is no way he is taking on all three of them by himself, especially so seeing as I haven't taught him any defensive magic whatsoever._

As she was thinking this, the pent-up energy was reaching a peak, a hassle required by the possibility that the mage might have cast wards his companions, and she merely needed to find a suitable target.

Then one of them shouted, "Before we engage in combat, I would like to give you option to surrender. If you do so, we need not create a scene. We do not intend to kill you either, and will not do so unless forced to. Think about it."

_Do they really think he'll accept?_ Midna thought to herself.

By now, Laevateinn had flown into Michael's hands and he was facing the three Hunters. The flaming blade held diagonal to his face, as he stood combat-ready.

"How do I know that?" the necromancer snapped, taking a quick tally of the weapons in the hands of the Hybrid Hunters: the longbow level to with head, the battle-ax was an obvious one and the studs on the buckler could hurt, the orb on the staff glowed with obvious power. "Three of you against just me," he said sarcastically, "I don't think you'd have any problem reneging on that."

The three of them seemed to have a conference of sorts through expressions and, after a few tense seconds, one of them spoke.

"Very well, as a show of faith, why don't we all lower our arms?" the true mage said.

The archer's longbow lowered, the string relaxing as the arrowhead came forward from the bow, then mage's staff stopped glowing and he set it on the ground. The warrior in plate armor looked at his two companions gruffly, and replaced the battle-ax at his side and the shield on his back.

The necromancer smirked almost haughtily, then Laevateinn's fire extinguished itself. He slowly lowered the blade, then suddenly took a step and started to leap toward them and…

…was blasted with a bolt of pure light from the mage before he got airborne. The necromancer crumpled to the ground instantly, Laevateinn clanking to the ground beside him. The trio of Hunters looked around at each other, then Cato picked up Michael, slung him over his shoulder as though he was a child and left. The mage lowered his staff again and picked up the until-recently blazing sword with a look of utmost curiosity adorning his face and left as well. The archer's bow was quickly on his back, the arrow back in the quiver. As he passed the Guard, he said, "This never happened, okay?" while giving the guard one of those looks that communicated in a perfectly lucid fashion that the person giving the look _really_ wasn't screwing around.

**Midna POV**

The magical energy had longed dissipated from my hands when I had seen that mage loose the bolt of light as pure as Claimh Solais's.

It took an enormous effort simply to move my limbs in the manner required to return to the inn, unable to keep a look of horror from my face. I immediately went to the room that Link, I, and the apparently late Michael had occupied.

_No!_ _He is not dead! That attack would've killed you, but not him! He's not a Twili! He's only stunned, nothing more!_

But still, the way he had crumpled when the bolt struck him, he couldn't have…

_NO! HE IS ABLE TO TOLERATE LIGHT!_

She had arrived in their room by now, and simply sank down onto one of the beds clutching at the post on one corner of the thing.

_He's perfectly fine…He's going to be okay…Why would they kill someone who isn't a Hybrid? Yes, it's cruel logic, but it's logic nonetheless._ But the I found that my heart simply refused to listen to my brain. I could almost feeling the burning agony course through my veins once more.

Suddenly, I was no longer sitting on a bed in Telma's Inn, clutching at a bedpost so hard that my hands were beginning to hurt, but was instead again an imp. Held in the air by Zant, who had suddenly been given life. Watching as the usurper knocked aside Link like a ragdoll. Watching as the Hero was again the Sacred Beast, watching as the cursed crystal sink into his forehead as he was shot away from Zant…watching…

"Did you honestly mean to take an ancient and withered power and turn it against me?" Zant taunted as he held me in the air, suspended over Lanayru's spring. He shook his head solemnly and said, "You are a foolish traitor, Midna. Why do you defy your king?"

_"_MY KING? You_, who do nothing but _abuse_ the magic of our tribe? You must be _joking_!" I shouted as I struggled uselessly against my invisible bonds._

_ Now it was Zant's turn to be shocked as he said, "How _dare _you? Are you implying that my power is…our old magic?" He chuckled to himself, then burst out in maniacal laughter, "Now THAT is a joke!"_

_ Suddenly, with a small gesture of the hand, I was forcefully jerked through the air to be floating over the ground and roughly slammed into it. As I struggled to get up, I heard him say, "This power is granted to me by my god! It is the magic of the King of Twilight and you _will _respect it!" I had finally raised my head and saw that he was forming a ball of blood-red magic. Too weak to resist, I waited for the deathblow._

_ Instead of a flash of pain followed by merciful blackness, there was a bark, a thump, and the thud of flesh impacting with the ground as Link slid to a halt beside me. Sudden adrenaline wiped out all the pain and I crawled over to the now-cursed hero, watching as an ebony black and sunset orange crystal sunk into his head._

_ Again I felt a forceful pull as I was sharply jerked through the air to float beside Zant, my arms pinned behind my back._

_ "My Midna… Did you forget? Is one of the Light Dwellers who oppressed our people. No matter how much you may desire otherwise, you will never be more than a shadow in their world. You cannot consort with their kind!" he almost whispered, leaning his head in closer._

And who are you to decide that? _Was my immediate mental counter._

_ "But if we can make their world ours, Midna…Light and Darkness will meet at last," he continued, a note of exaltation in his voice, "Our tribe will take back their realm…and sweet Darkness will blot out the harsh Light!" He started to lean in even closer, "And that, Midna, is why…" I heard the clinking of metal as part of the helmet moved aside to reveal a sickening face from which web-like lines of saliva dripped, "…I need you. Not just for me, but for all our people…Lend me your power."_

_ I wouldn't've said yes anyway, but the utter revulsion I felt from the mere proximity of this vile being is what gave me strength to break free of the bonds, almost dropping to the floor in the process. I quickly returned to Link's side, again trying to shake him awake. There was a long pause, in which reality returned to me in the cold fact that I was not forced to fuse myself with his shadow to stay out of the Light world's…Light._

_ Finally, Zant spoke, "So…So be it…I will return you to the Light world you covet!"_

_ Again, the same pull at my limbs, and I was again lifted high in the air with a yelp from the unexpected pull. I was hanging dead center over the pool as the world around me started to Lighten._

No! I need to get back to Link's shadow. I can't die now!

_ I tried in vain to release myself from Zant's grasp, but the adrenaline had long left my blood, leaving my body wracked with fatigue and my mind frenzied by desperation. I was unable to even move my head to get a good look at the thing that would spell out my doom._

_ Just as that thought echoed through my head, the Light Spirit roared back to life, filling its pool with blazing Light. I was faintly aware of someone screaming at the top of their lungs as the pure, untainted Light coursing through the being directly in front of me started to wash over me._

The pain was immeasurable, the Light made my flesh and skin feel like it was peeling off my bones in the most agonizing way possible, the blood in my veins felt like it was on fire, burning every inch of my small, cursed body. The Light seared cleanly through my closed eyelids to create the excruciating sensation of my eyes, in addition to the rest of my body, being stabbed repeatedly with glowing-hot swords. I just wanted nothing more than for the pain to stop as the Light started to envelop me in a cocoon. And then, everything went black as I lost consciousness-

"Midna!" a familiar voice shouted, and I felt myself being shaken violently.

"Wha-" I looked around for a moment, disoriented. I was sitting in a familiar room, being shaken by a familiar green-garbed Hero. I looked at myself to find I was no longer an imp, but my normal form. I then realized I'd been holding my breath and slowly released it, the issuance of breath sounding akin to hissing.

"I'm…" I felt a small catch in my voice stopped to take a deep breath, "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Link said, still sounding quite concerned, a fact which irritated me slightly. "You were staring straight ahead and seemed almost like you were frozen. The look in your eyes was really creeping me out as well." He looked around for a moment, then I abruptly noticed that his arm was around my shoulders again. I considered leaning into it, but I'd probably shown enough weakness already.

_Um, who is this we're talking about here? Not some complete stranger, that's for sure, else he'd probably be lacking an arm right now._

With this in mind, I leaned slightly into Link's arm, feeling it encircle me.

And then he wrecked the moment, "Wait a minute. Where's Michael?"

Oh great, now I was seeing it again.

"Um…he's…" I found it surprisingly hard to speak for a moment. I almost burst into sobbing before I finally choked out, "I…I think he's…dead."

A sudden silence permeated the room, rendering the wing beat of even the smallest insect audible to whichever entomologist would've cared to listen.

"Dead? How?" Link said, disbelief creeping into his voice.

I recounted what I had seen happen, but my voice kept faltering when I got to the part when the mage had struck down my late bodyguard with a burst of light.

"This doesn't explain why I found you here, looking like the population of the entire Twilight Realm had just been killed," he said when I finished my story.

"It's just…when I saw him being struck down with Light, I just…felt like…" my voice faltered as I saw the whole episode replay itself in my head.

Link looked at me for a few seconds, then realization showed in his eyes as he growled, "Zant. Seeing the Light bolt reminded you of Zant."

"Y-yes," I choked out.

The Hero sighed to himself, then held my shoulders with his hands and turned me to face him. "Look at me when I tell you this, Zant is dead. He isn't coming back and he isn't going to hurt you, okay?"

I nodded and he continued, "As he isn't a Twili, chances are that the attack just knocked him out, okay? He is alive. We just need to find him."

"And how do we do that?" I asked after thinking for a while.

"I…I don't- Hey, wait a minute! Isn't that his book?" Link said, suddenly staring intently at a spot somewhere behind me. I turned around and, sure enough, there was a small black book on Michael's bed. It was open to a page filled with words. I picked it up and noticed a date in boldface above one of the passages. Feeling slight embarrassment at having almost invaded Michael's privacy, I started flipping through the pages to the cover. As I was doing so, a colorful something caught my eye, and I turned back to the page it was on.

It was a picture.

In it were three people. The first two I didn't recognize, but the third drew my attention. The third one was standing in the center of the frame between two people who looked considerably older, quite possibly adults. He was tall, standing slightly above both of them, black hair, light-tan skin, gray eyes, and a unique half-smile bore an undeniable similarity to a certain necromancer, though he looked quite a bit younger in this picture.

_This must be his family._

For some reason, seeing this picture gave birth to a spark of resolve inside me. The spark caught, burnt, almost fizzled out, and then blazed to life. I closed the book and noticed, as if for the first time, the writing on the front. There, right under the Twilian insignia, was one word.

_Grimoire._

_

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_**A/N: Remember people, Read and Review, it motivates me. Seriously!**

**And I almost forgot something! Props to the ever-awesome ConGie for Beta-reading**_. _**This chapter marks**** the first time I've ever had anyone beta-read my work. XD**_  
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